Prosecutors to probe state textbook allegations

By Kim Hyun-bin

The Ministry of Education said, Friday, it has requested the prosecution to investigate 17 people, including former Cheong Wa Dae senior officials, who were involved in the now-scrapped state-authored history textbook plan.

According to the ministry, the 17 are five former presidential officials, including former chief of staff Lee Byung-kee and Kim Sang-ryul, a former senior secretary for education and culture, eight then education officials and four people from the private sector.

However, the list failed to include former President Park Geun-hye and her presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon, believed to have masterminded the drive for the books for middle and high school students. On March 28, the fact finding committee under the education ministry initially requested that 25 people be questioned, including Park and Kim, for possible abuse of power and other violations of related laws.

The history book plan was ditched by President Moon Jae-in last year right after he took office.

“We are not authorized to investigate those who do not belong to the education ministry, so we could not look into the presidential office,” said an official at the ministry.

The ministry also called for disciplinary measures for the six officials at the ministry and affiliated organizations.

“Instead of punishing low- to mid-level officials who followed government guidelines, we will punish high-ranking officials,” it said.

Prosecutors are expected to look into whether they drew up a blacklist for academic research projects, violated publicity payments, set up interest groups and exerted pressure on rigging public opinion about the government-issued textbooks.

The fact finding committee's investigation results will be revealed in a “white paper,” which the ministry plans to distribute to public libraries nationwide including the National Assembly Library and the National Library of Korea.

Education Minister Kim Sang-gon criticized the previous government's plan, calling it an abuse of power and an attempt to monopolize the nation's history textbooks.

“It is a known fact that the Ministry of Education was at the forefront to implement the textbooks. As the head of education I feel heavily responsible and would like to deeply apologize to the public,” Kim said.

In 2015, the previous government unveiled the history textbook plan out of concern that privately published textbooks reflected leftist views and promoted pro-North Korea sentiment.

However, the plan faced a huge backlash from all sides.

Many critics claimed that the government was trying to glorify the dictatorship of former President Park Chung-hee, President Park's father, while high-profile historians called it an anti-democratic move that would prevent citizens from gaining a balanced understanding of the past.