Education in Korea

Interesting op-ed about Korea in the Herald today (search for it yourself if less than a week old). I particulary liked this paragraph:

The importance Koreans attach to education cannot be understated. Step into an international hotel or company in Seoul, and you will find extremely well educated, fluent English speakers. Koreans spend more per capita on education than any other OECD country.

The first sentence would seem to imply that they don't give a rat's proverbial - like you know, they barely turn up to class?
If only our own education was as important...