WASHINGTON, April 16 (Yonhap) — U.S. President Barack Obama has praised South Korea’s education system again, saying teachers in Korea are paid as much as doctors and engineers.

“My sister was a teacher, and so I know how little she got paid. It’s hard to support a family. And there are a lot of young people who are really talented who want to go into teaching,” Obama said in a town hall meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday.

“In places like Korea and Finland, where the education system is really doing well, teachers are paid at the level that doctors and engineers are paid, and it is respected as a profession,” he said.

Obama has lauded Korea’s education zeal and system many times since taking office in 2009.

But Wednesday’s statement about teachers’ pay is far from reality. Doctors are one of the highest-paid professions in South Korea, not on par with teachers in terms of pay.