Justice Party "Only Inter-Ministerial Confusion Over Age 5"
Ruling Party "It Is Right to Align with National Policy Direction"
Controversy over President Yoon Suk-yeol's remarks on the difficulty level of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) has shifted to the political arena. The opposition criticized President Yoon's direct instructions to the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation and the Ministry of Education regarding the CSAT question-setting method, saying, "The president's intervention in the CSAT undermines the autonomy of the evaluation institute," while the government and ruling party moved to contain the situation by preparing measures to reduce private education expenses.
On the 19th, Lee Ju-ho, Minister of Education and Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs, officially apologized at a working-level party-government meeting on reducing private education expenses held at the National Assembly, saying, "Although questions not covered in the public education curriculum have been set for a long time, the Ministry of Education failed to resolve and neglected this issue," and added, "President Yoon pointed out this problem, but we were unable to respond promptly, and I apologize to the public."
The Deputy Prime Minister also addressed the recent controversy over the so-called "easy CSAT" following President Yoon's directive to "exclude areas not covered in the public education curriculum from the CSAT," stating, "Some raise the so-called easy CSAT issue, but it does not mean an easy CSAT," and explained, "The goal is to ensure a fair CSAT that prevents students from being driven to private academies, enhances the test's discriminative power, and excludes content not covered in the public education curriculum to avoid pushing students into private education." He further emphasized, "As the head of the Ministry of Education, I will take strict action against major illegal activities by private academies," and stressed, "We will also steadily implement tailored responses to normalize public education and reduce private education."
The People Power Party also launched a supportive offensive regarding President Yoon's remarks on the CSAT difficulty level at the same working-level party-government meeting. Park Dae-chul, the party's policy chief, pointed out, "Setting questions outside the public education curriculum is a serious social problem that drains parents' pockets, harms students' happiness, and undermines national competitiveness," while Lee Cheol-gyu, the party secretary-general, emphasized, "The government's difficulty policy does not mean making the test easy or lacking discriminative power," adding, "It is to ensure that students who have not received private education do not suffer disadvantages."
On the other hand, the opposition launched a full-scale offensive against President Yoon's remarks on the CSAT difficulty level. Kim Young-ho, the opposition party's education committee secretary and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, saying, "It was inappropriate for the president to make such remarks five months before the CSAT," and added, "It was very one-sided and amateurish without consulting experts." Kim said, "Instead of repeatedly explaining this issue, it is most important to quickly resolve it with an apology and provide stability to our examinees," and added, "Whether the test becomes easier or harder, the president will be held responsible."
The Justice Party previously criticized the president by referring to policy processes such as the "lowering of the school entry age to five" and the "69-hour workweek." On the same day, Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, said at the morning executive committee meeting, "Focusing on the curriculum and reducing killer questions are directions already underway or under review, and this controversy only adds ambiguous details to existing policies, causing confusion," and added, "The government, which should present a long-term plan, is only exposing inter-ministerial confusion with 150 days left before the CSAT."
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