SOUTH KOREA - Prime Minister Chung Un-chan yesterday instructed the government to enhance crackdowns on illegal private tutoring, which is fast increasing ahead of university admission tests.

He issued the order during the inaugural meeting of a special council aimed to enhance public education and curb private education. It comprises government officials, educational experts and parents.

"In order to craft effective measures to reduce private education costs, in the short term, we should intensify clampdowns on illegally operating private institutions," Chung said. "In the long term, we should strengthen the competitiveness of public education through autonomy and competition."

The prime minister also directed related government bodies to step up crackdowns on those who offer expensive consulting to students seeking to enter universities through the admissions officer system.

As more universities have recently adopted the system, which evaluates aspects of applicants rather than focusing on school grades, more students have relied on private cram schools or tutors.

During the meeting, participants agreed that the government should conduct on-site inspections next month at local universities operating the admission officer system and deal with those unfairly running the system.