Negligence of Foreign Textbooks by Overseas Diplomatic Missions... Seogyeongdeok Calls It "Serious Dereliction of Duty"

"Notified of Errors but Did Not Request Corrections"
"Please Do Your Best to Ensure Prompt Corrections"

Professor Seokyung Deok of Sungshin Women's University criticized the recent revelation that overseas diplomatic missions neglected serious errors about Korea in foreign textbooks, calling it a "serious dereliction of duty."

On the 18th, Professor Seo stated on Facebook, "It has been revealed that foreign textbooks in countries such as the UK, Hungary, and Laos contain serious errors about Korea," adding, "The UK secondary school textbook introduced Korea as a 'drug-producing country, also known as an amphetamine producer.'"

Canadian textbook that controversially labeled Jeju Island as Japanese territory in the past. Professor Seo Kyung-duk SNS

He continued, "Hungarian textbooks contained incorrect content, such as referring to the Korean Peninsula as the 'Chinggis Khan Empire' or 'Chinese territory during the Han Empire era.'"

He also reported that the Laos textbook included content stating that "the Russian Empire occupied Korea from 1864 to 1875" and that "63% of South Korea's population are farmers living in rural areas."

Professor Seo said, "This fact was revealed in the Audit Board's 'Audit Report on the Operation Status of Overseas Diplomatic Missions' on the 15th," and criticized, "Eleven overseas diplomatic missions were notified of these errors by the Academy of Korean Studies, an institution under the Ministry of Education, from 2021 to 2023, but they did not request corrections from the respective countries' ministries of education or publishers."

He then urged, "Please do your best to ensure the fastest possible correction."