Education minister Lee Ju-ho has apologized for failing to act swiftly to reduce the burden imposed on parents by private education despite repeated criticism of the system by President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Meeting with ruling People Power Party(PPP) representatives on the parliamentary Education Committee on Monday, Lee said his ministry had neglected to rectify the inclusion of questions on content outside the public school curriculum on the university entrance exam.

The minister said the inclusion of such "killer questions" has been the fundamental cause of an increasing reliance on private education, before promising to enhance fairness in the test, known in Korean as “suneung,” by excluding them.

The minister stressed that a fair assessment through the exam, as mentioned by the president, is the key principle that would also be the start of normalizing the public school system and reducing private education expenses.

He then promised to gradually push toward fairness in phases, but in a definite way.