Education Ministry Was Quick to Add the Missing “Invasion of the South,” But Claims “Researchers” Decided to Omit the May 18 Pro-Democracy Movement

May 18 Organizations, “Immediately Withdraw the Revised Curriculum”: Members and representatives of organizations related to the May 18 democratic uprising, such as the May 18 Memorial Foundation, hold a press conference at the May 18 Memorial Cultural Hall in Seo-gu, Gwangju on January 4 and call for the government to immediately cancel the revised curriculum, which omitted the May 18 pro-democracy movement. Yonhap News

The new curriculum to be introduced in 2024 failed to mention the May 18 pro-democracy movement, stirring controversy. The Ministry of Education explained that it was omitted in the process of simplifying the curriculum, but the ministry came under fire for its inconsistent response. In the past, when it left out the June 25 invasion of the South by North Korea, it had rushed to bow before the public and revise the curriculum.

In a press back-briefing on January 4, an education ministry official spoke on the controversy surrounding the omission of the May 18 pro-democracy movement in the 2022 revised curriculum. He explained, “The details on the May 18 incident were removed when educational elements were omitted from the entire curriculum according to changes to the curriculum documentation system. It was not the education ministry or the government that decided to leave them out.” The ministry gave the explanation when it was attacked from all fields after the 2022 revised curriculum failed to mention the May 18 pro-democracy movement in the elementary, middle, and high school social sciences, history, integrated social sciences, Korean history, and East Asian history subjects.

According to the education ministry’s explanation, the curriculum was revised in 2022 with a focus on “outlining” the curriculum--not presenting specific contents and achievement levels for each subject--to ensure autonomy in developing textbooks. Based on this principle, the “learning elements” included in the subcategory of achievement standards in the previous curriculum were removed from all subjects and the achievement standards and explanation of the standards were also simplified. The education ministry explained that in the process, the May 18 Gwangju uprising stated in the previous curriculum was left out. The ministry also stated that the panel of policy researchers who developed the education program for history subjects was established in December 2021, before the launch of the incumbent government, and that the initial draft, which the panel submitted to the ministry, did not state the May 18 pro-democracy movement.

Last August when the draft of the 2022 revised curriculum was first released to the public, it failed to mention North Korea’s invasion of the South triggering a heated debate. The expression was omitted in the process of simplifying the descriptions of the revised curriculum, just as with the May 18 incident. However, back then, the education ministry immediately released an explanation that it was aware of the problem as soon as the press coverage was released.

The ministry also promised to include the event in the final curriculum. In fact, the ministry asked the policy researchers to include the event, and the expression “invasion of the South” was included in the final curriculum.

Some experts criticized that the education ministry, which actively made changes when the missing “invasion of the South” stirred controversy, was passive in responding to the May 18 debate, and was only busy making excuses.

The 2022 revised curriculum was already proclaimed at the end of last year, so revising it won’t be easy. Instead, the education ministry has decided to include the May 18 pro-democracy movement in the editing standards, which describe the direction and contents in editing textbooks. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho released an explanation this day and said, “We will include major historic events including the May 18 pro-democracy movement in the textbook editing standards so that they can be included in textbooks allowing our students to learn the spirit of the May 18 pro-democracy movement.”

Textbooks must follow the editing standards if they are to be authorized, so if the May 18 pro-democracy movement is included in the editing standards, a description of the event is likely to be included in the textbooks.