Vegetarian Food Discarded at One School in Gyeonggi-do
Im Tae-hee: "Based on School's Decision"
Regarding the disposal of Han Kang's "The Vegetarian," a Nobel Prize-winning literary work, at a school in Gyeonggi Province on the grounds that it was a harmful book for adolescent sex education, opposition members of the National Assembly's Education Committee demanded an apology from Lim Tae-hee, the Superintendent of Education of Gyeonggi Province.
On the 22nd, during the National Assembly Education Committee's audit of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, when Democratic Party lawmaker Baek Seung-ah asked, "How did you view 'The Vegetarian'? Does it seem like a harmful sex education book?" Superintendent Lim responded, "I have read 'The Vegetarian,' and it is a work containing profound thoughts written with very deep contemplation."
Han Kang, the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, is delivering her acceptance speech at the 18th PonyJeong Innovation Awards ceremony held on the 17th at I'Park Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
However, Superintendent Lim said, "Regarding parts of the book related to Mongolian spots and so on, I also felt somewhat embarrassed while reading it, thinking it might be uncomfortable for students to see."
From the same party, lawmaker Jeong Eun-ho pointed out that it was inappropriate for the Office of Education to present the 'Standards for Reviewing Harmful Media for Youth' as a guideline in the official document. Lawmaker Jeong argued, "The standards for reviewing harmful media for youth under the Youth Protection Act are not review standards to be arbitrarily applied in school libraries," and claimed, "It was an illegal act to impose review standards that are not even included in the library operation committee manual."
Lawmakers Kang Kyung-sook of the Justice Innovation Party and Go Min-jung of the Democratic Party raised issues with the official documents sent three times by the Office of Education, which contained phrases such as 'Submission of book lists after handling sex education books' and 'Disposal possible in severe cases,' pointing out that sending such documents amounts to censorship or coercion.
Lim Tae-hee, Superintendent of Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, is attending the Education Committee's audit at the National Assembly on the 22nd, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yonhap News
In response, Superintendent Lim countered that the measures were based on the autonomous judgment of each school's library operation committee. He explained, "There have been many incidents related to sex, including deepfakes and school violence, occurring at school sites, and concerns have been raised by parents and religious groups that such problems could arise from reading materials," adding, "The Office of Education sent the official documents to raise awareness and guide reading."
He further added, "Following the issuance of the official documents, each school's library operation committee autonomously selected problematic books." However, Superintendent Lim acknowledged, "It was wrong to include news articles as attachments to the problematic official documents."
Previously, from September to November last year, the Office of Education sent official documents containing the standards for reviewing harmful media for youth to each education support office, instructing schools at all levels to hold library operation committees to designate harmful books. Subsequently, approximately 2,490 schools judged a total of 2,517 books as harmful sex education materials and disposed of them. Among these, one school disposed of "The Vegetarian," judging that the sexual content in the book could have a negative impact on students, while two other schools restricted access to the book.
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