By Kim Bo-eun
A progressive lawyers’ group, which filed suit against the education minister over regulations about state-authored history textbooks, is seeking a Constitutional Court review of the regulations.
On Wednesday, Lawyers for a Democratic Society made a request with the Seoul Administrative Court to take the case to the Constitutional Court to determine whether the regulations are constitutional.
“Related regulations do not state the details regarding what the textbooks should carry and how to publish them, but instead give the entire authority to the President,” a representative of the group said at the first hearing of the suit.
“This goes against the Constitution, which bans such blanket authority.”
In January, the lawyer’s group filed a suit with the administrative court to cancel the state’s move to compile history textbooks for middle and high school students.
Last November, the Ministry of Education finalized the plan to change the current system of allowing multiple publishers to produce textbooks, to a system introducing a single state-authored textbook starting in 2017.
The related regulations state that “The President makes the decision on necessary factors regarding textbooks to include writing, certification, publishing, distribution and pricing.”
The lawyers’ group added that the process did not allow for the consideration of opinions of the superintendents of education offices across the nation.
Countering the claim, the ministry said the process was conducted according to administrative rules and the superintendents had sufficient time to express their opinions.
The next hearing will be held July 22.
In December, the lawyers group also filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, saying the state infringed on basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution. “The state-authored books are against the freedom and basic order of democracy, as well as infringe on the independence and political neutrality of education and teachers’ right to teach,” it said.