Korea's star lecturers earn more than top athletes

$10 million. This is the annual salary of a 40-year-old Korean woman, neither an entrepreneur nor a CEO, but a social studies teacher who offers lectures online.

Students are crowded in Daechi-dong of Gangnam District, southern Seoul, an area known as the hub of Korea's private education. [YONHAP]

$10 million. This is the annual salary of a 40-year-old Korean woman, neither an entrepreneur nor a CEO, but a social studies teacher who offers lectures online.

Lee Ji-young is one of many “star lecturers” in Korea, a term applied to celebrated teachers who offer private education through major institutes like Megastudy and Etoos, mainly to students preparing for suneung, or Korea's College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).

The levels of fame, adulation and wealth that star lecturers attain go far beyond most teachers' wildest expectations.

On March 1, when Seoul National University’s College of Education invited Lee as a guest speaker for their freshman orientation, hundreds of students crowded the stage. Lee has a master’s in education and a Ph.D. in political philosophy from Seoul National University.

The video of her speech was uploaded on YouTube and has amassed more than 400,000 views.

“I heard that Lee Ji-young came on campus today,” an anonymous student said wrote on Everytime, a community mobile app for university students. “I’m so jealous of students in the College of Education.”

Lee Ji-young was featured in the reality show “My Little Old Boy” on SBS. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Hyun Woo-jin, a star lecturer teaching mathematics after obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, is reported to earn some 20 billion won ($15 million) to 30 billion won a year, even higher than the annual salary of football star Son Heung-min.

Hyun lives in The Penthouse Cheongdam Villa, currently the most expensive residence in Korea.

Advertisements featuring star lecturers are visible on buses, the subway and even skyscrapers in Korea. As of March 2023, an advertisement featuring Hyun was plastered on subway stations and department stores with the sentence — “The only one that can beat Hyun Woo-jin is the future Hyun Woo-jin.”

The relationship between students and star lecturers is similar to the one between fans and K-pop stars. Students even buy merchandise that includes bags, mugs and stickers.

Hyun Woo-jin of Megastudy gives a lecture [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Social media accounts belonging to lecturers are also hugely popular. Hyun has amassed more than 216,000 followers on Instagram and Lee Da-ji, a star lecturer that teaches Korean history, has more than 22,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel.

The popularity of lecturers directly correlates with the popularity of private education in Korea. Private education refers to all educational services received outside of the regular school curriculum, including tutoring and hagwon, or private cram schools.

Total expenditure on private education for Korean students was 26 trillion won last year, up 10.8 percent, according to a report released by Korean Statistical Information Service. The rise is double last year’s 5.1 percent increase.

Of all elementary, middle and high school students, 78.3 percent receive private education.

Students take buses to go home in Daechi-dong, an area known as the hub of Korea's private education, around 10 p.m. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

"Private education has expanded due to a competitive strategy triggered by high-stakes tests in schools that compose a rigid hierarchy, which is exacerbated by Korea’s societal value of worshiping academic elitism," said education professor Lee Chong-Jae of Seoul National University in a report.

"Private education is led by some students with good grades and one of the biggest motivators comes from their fear of losing a competitive edge when applying for universities in the case of not having private tutoring."

As of 2022, elementary school students had the highest participation in private education, at 85.2 percent, followed by middle school students, at 76.2 percent, and high schoolers, at 66 percent.

In areas like Daechi-dong of Gangnam District, southern Seoul, an area known as the hub of Korea's private education, there are endless rows of buildings full of private academies or hagwons. It is a common scene to see students lug heavy backpacks full of books to commute to and from another private academy.

When the clock strikes 10 p.m., which is the government-mandated time for private academies to stop classes, the streets are packed with cars driven by doting parents who have come to pick up their children.

Students in Daechi-dong, an area known as the hub of Korea's private education, around 10 p.m. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

But it is common knowledge that the law is inconsequential and that even after 10 p.m., many private teachers continue to give students classes. Teachers draw blackout curtains to block the lights and go undetected by government officials who have been dispatched for inspection.

But experts warn that overheated private education may cause a gap in education between children from low-income households and high-income households, and eventually to their future lives.

"The gap between household spending on private education inevitably leads to an income gap for their children and may cause the inheritance of poverty," said researcher Woo Cheon-sik from the Korea Development Institute.

"Measures to strengthen public schools' role in education and increase financial support for low-income households are urgently needed to prevent students from being excluded from high-quality education just because of their financial issue."

Korea does offer free online lectures through EBS, a public educational broadcaster. But as star lecturers’ classes include high-quality lectures, curriculums, and even mock suneung tests comparable to the actual exam, EBS lectures pale in comparison.

In a recent survey by the National Council of Consumer Education, the three largest institutes made up 86 percent of the share in the private education market for suneung, while EBS only made up three. The council interviewed 1,000 parents in August and September 2020 who offered private education to their children.

BY STUDENT REPORTER KIM CHE-YEON [kjd.kcampus@joongang.co.kr]