The Ministry of Education's Jong-hwan Gyo and Kyung-deuk Park led the first price reduction since textbook pricing was liberalized. The two officials improved the decision-making structure centered on publishers' 'hope prices' by building a scientific price verification model based on market share, actual order volume, and profit structure. They also made price consideration mandatory in textbook selection and introduced a fixed price determination method for each publisher, resulting in an average 4.9% reduction in textbook prices. As a result, it is expected that the budget of metropolitan education offices will be reduced by 3.7 billion won annually from the 2026 academic year, and up to 22.2 billion won over six years of application of the '2022 Revised Curriculum'. The two officials received a total performance bonus of 10 million won from the Ministry of Planning and Budget in recognition of their achievements.
