Maths teacher earns ₹187 crore each year: This tutor lives in ultra-luxury property, enjoys celebrity-like fan following

Hyun Woo-jin, a mathematics tutor in South Korea, reportedly earned up to 30 billion won (₹187 crore) annually, surpassing the country’s top football star, Son Heung-min. His textbook series, Neuron, sells over one million copies yearly, and his celebrity-like influence includes advertisements across buses, subways, and department stores. Students emulate K-pop fan culture, buying branded merchandise and following his lectures with devotion. The private tutoring industry drives South Korea’s education culture, with 78.3% of students receiving additional instruction beyond regular schools. Households spent 29.2 trillion won (₹1.83 lakh crore) on tutoring in 2024, a 60.1% increase from 2014, as parents seek reassurance amid high-stakes exams. The College Scholastic Ability Test (Suneung) determines entry to elite SKY universities—Seoul National, Korea, and Yonsei—with some questions designed to be unusually difficult. The exam’s pressure is so intense that Air Force training flights halt, and police escort delayed students with sirens. Hyun’s success contrasts with recent legal scrutiny: prosecutors indicted 46 individuals, including him, for allegedly paying 400 million won (₹2.5 crore) between 2020 and 2023 to obtain leaked exam questions. Authorities claim some teachers had ties to state educational content and official mock exams, triggering an investigation that began in 2023. Critics argue the system prioritizes reassurance over education, as families outsource trust to private instructors amid uncertainty about exam difficulty. The case highlights broader concerns about academic competition and the ethics of private tutoring in South Korea.