[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Regarding the omission of any mention of the 'May 18 Democratic Uprising' in the new curriculum, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho announced that it will be explicitly included in the textbook writing standards.
On the 4th, Deputy Prime Minister Lee stated, "To ensure that students can learn the spirit of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, we will reflect the 'May 18 Democratic Uprising' along with other major historical events in the 'Textbook Compilation Criteria' so that it can be described in textbooks."
In the 2022 revised curriculum announced at the end of last year, the term 'May 18 Democratic Uprising' does not appear even once in the elementary, middle, and high school social studies, history, integrated social studies, Korean history, and East Asian history curricula, sparking controversy.
Earlier that day, 58 opposition lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea, the Justice Party, the Basic Income Party, and others held a joint press conference, stating, "The deletion of the May 18 Democratic Uprising from the national curriculum is a serious violation of democracy and a regression in the development of democracy in the Republic of Korea," and strongly urged, "The government must stop regressing the curriculum and include the May 18 Democratic Uprising as much as possible in the 2022 revised curriculum and the forthcoming textbook work."
However, the Ministry of Education drew a line, saying this occurred during the process of outlining the curriculum, which only briefly presents the summary and direction. Oh Seung-geol, Director of the Education Policy Office at the Ministry of Education, said, "The broad framework of the outline was finalized in the 2021 announced basic matters for curriculum development and revision, and accordingly, the research team significantly omitted content learning elements across all subjects," adding, "The Ministry of Education did not intervene to cause the omission."
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