[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung and Jeonnam Governor Kim Young-rok exchanged sharp criticisms over the deletion of the May 18 Democratic Movement from the revised curriculum.
On the 4th, Mayor Kang issued a statement saying, “Democracy in the Republic of Korea has been continuously carried on through the Gwangju Student Independence Movement, the April 19 Revolution, the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Movement, and the June Democratic Uprising,” adding, “At the center of this is the May 18 Movement, which shines brightly, and this is why we take pride in the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Movement and must widely pass it on to future generations.”
He continued, “Deleting such a May 18 Movement from the curriculum is utterly unreasonable and an act of erasing history,” asserting, “History is not erased just because you try to erase it. History is the fact itself.”
He also stated, “No government can gain the consent of the people by denying history, and rather, only stern judgment will follow,” emphasizing, “Those responsible for deleting the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Movement from the ‘2022 Revised Curriculum’ must apologize to the people, and the related provisions must be restored to their original state.”
Governor Kim also argued, “The May 18 Democratic Movement has already been designated as a national memorial day through historical evaluation, and its sacredness and historical significance have been recognized not only in the Republic of Korea but worldwide, as evidenced by its registration as a UNESCO Memory of the World.”
He added, “Excluding the May 18 Democratic Movement from the revised curriculum completely denies the value of May 18 and clearly damages the spirit of democracy,” evaluating it as “an anachronistic act that inflicts an irreparable wound on the May 18 martyrs and bereaved families whose pain has not yet healed.”
Furthermore, he said, “Without the May 18 Democratic Movement, achieved through noble sacrifice, today’s liberal democracy would not exist,” demanding, “The Ministry of Education must stop regressing the curriculum for the development and succession of democracy in the Republic of Korea, and must include the May 18 Democratic Movement as much as possible in the 2022 revised curriculum and the upcoming textbook projects.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education deleted the term ‘May 18 Democratic Movement,’ which was included in the 2018 curriculum, from the 2022 revised social studies curriculum announced on December 22 last year.
The Ministry of Education explained that “individual and specific historical event descriptions were minimized,” but while the April 19 Revolution and the June Democratic Uprising remain as before, only the May 18 Democratic Movement was deleted, causing backlash from various sectors.
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