South Korea unveils measures to step up transparency at private preschools

The South Korean government will introduce heftier punishments against irregularities at private preschools and step up monitoring of their accounting transparency.The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the education ministry announced the new measures Thursday,... in light of recent revelations that some 19-hundred kindergartens nationwide were involved in series of irregularities,... from accounting fraud to using taxpayer money to buy personal goods.Private preschools will be required to adopt a state accounting system currently used at schools,... known as edufine.On top of initial plans to add some 500 new public kindergartens next year,... the government will double that to 1,000 as part of its aim of achieving a ratio of 40 percent state-run kindergartens.The government also plans to warn private preschools of stronger punishment if they take actions such as a collective strike or refuse to take new students, as it's a violation of fair trade law.