On the 14th, the Ministry of Education confirmed the cancellation of the approval for the high school Korean history textbook published by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. Earlier, this textbook had raised controversy over glorifying pro-Japanese sentiments and dictatorship, as well as procedural flaws in the approval process.
The Ministry of Education released a statement that day, noting that this action was based on the audit findings from the Board of Audit and Inspection, which determined that the textbook did not meet the qualifications for approval.
The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation's textbook is titled 'Korean History 1 and 2 for High School' and passed the high school Korean history textbook approval process at the end of August last year.
However, it was pointed out that the textbook did not meet the qualification requirements for approval applications as it was supposed to have published at least one book related to the approval process in the last three years and contained content that glorified pro-Japanese sentiments and dictatorship while downplaying the significance of the independence movement.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Education decided to cancel the approval of the textbook after undergoing a hearing process involving the deliberative body for the approval of educational materials to determine the disposition regarding the textbook.
The Ministry of Education notified the publisher of the cancellation of the approval. It also plans to inform the regional education offices to take measures to change the textbook to another one for schools currently using this textbook.