Korean FTC to crack down on cram schools for false advertising activity

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog is expected to impose penalties against cram schools for false advertising activities. The penalties target both the cram schools and textbook publishers that have falsely promoted their experience in making questions for the country’s college entrance exam while exaggerating the college admissions that they made.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Wednesday that it submitted an investigation report containing recommended penalties against nine cram schools for 19 alleged law violations.

In the seven violations, five cram schools engaged in false advertising practices by claiming they had teachers with experience in making questions for the Korean college entrance exam. It turned out, however, that some of their actual contributions were limited to making guidelines for the questions or participating in mock tests.

The FTC is expected to look into the investigation results before a 4-week long public hearing to receive feedback from the accused cram schools and publishers.