Deletion of '5·18 Minju Movement' from Textbooks... Opposition Criticizes as "Atrocity Denying History"

Press Conference Held on the 4th at Gwangju City Council and National Assembly to Condemn

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] The ruling Democratic Party and other opposition parties are strongly protesting after it was confirmed that the term '5·18 Minju화 Movement' was excluded from the 2022 revised curriculum recently announced by the Ministry of Education.

According to Democratic Party lawmakers Kang Deuk-gu and Min Hyung-bae on the 3rd, the Ministry of Education deleted the term '5·18 Minju화 Movement' from the 2022 revised social studies curriculum for elementary, middle, and high schools, including social studies, history, integrated social studies, Korean history, and East Asian history.

In the previous curriculum, the 5·18 Minju화 Movement appeared seven times alongside the April 19 Revolution and the June Democratic Uprising, but in the revised curriculum, only the April 19 Revolution and the June Democratic Uprising were included.

Members of the National Assembly and party officials affiliated with the Jeonnam Provincial Party of the Democratic Party of Korea are paying their respects at the National 5·18 Democratic Cemetery in Unjeong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju on the morning of the 2nd. Photo by Yonhap News

Regarding this, lawmaker Min Hyung-bae posted on his social media service (SNS) on the same day a message titled "Condemning the 5·18 deletion curriculum deterioration, the atrocities of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration," raising his voice by saying, "This is an atrocity that completely denies May Gwangju, a clear regression of democracy, and a backward step in the history of the democratic republic."

Kang Deuk-gu, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party, also criticized in a press conference notice, "The 2022 revised curriculum initially emphasized 'curriculum with the people,' but after the Yoon Seok-yeol government took office, it was rapidly overturned to suit the administration's taste," adding, "Compared to 2015, the curriculum has seriously regressed and democracy has been damaged."

The Ministry of Education released explanatory materials on the same day, stating that in the 2022 revised curriculum, the 'learning elements' section was omitted, minimizing the description of individual and specific historical events in the history curriculum. It also denied the claim that the 5·18 Minju화 Movement was intentionally deleted.

The Ministry explained, "The policy research team that developed the history curriculum, formed in December 2021, also reduced the description of specific historical events (terms) with this intention, and from the initial draft submitted to the Ministry of Education by the research team, the '5·18 Minju화 Movement' was not included." It added, "As with the current curriculum, the 2022 revised curriculum developed related achievement standards so that students can learn about the democratization process from the April 19 Revolution to the June Democratic Uprising."

Meanwhile, lawmakers from the Gwangju region plan to hold a press conference at the Gwangju City Council on the 4th to condemn the deletion of the term 5·18 Minju화 Movement. Opposition lawmakers from the National Assembly's Education Committee will also hold a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Hall on the same morning, urging the cancellation of the curriculum approval.