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Students and citizens participate in a candlelight vigil at Cheonggye Square in central Seoul opposing the government’s plans for state-issued history textbooks

With the administration of President Park Geun-hye scheduled to formalize its plans to monopolize the authorship of history textbooks this week, there is growing opposition to the plan from academics - including professors and students - as well as from civic society and opposition parties.

Despite the cold weather, thousands of people attended an assembly in downtown Seoul this past weekend opposing the government plan, and more than 500,000 people have signed a petition protesting the plan.

On Nov. 1, one day before the end of the period when the government solicits public opinions about its textbook plan, the Network Against State-Issued Korean History Textbooks, an umbrella group representing 466 civic groups around the country, and a parliamentary coalition against state-issued textbooks that includes the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), the Justice Party, and independent lawmaker Cheon Jeong-bae were out in force, holding demonstrations in front of the Finance Center in central Seoul and in front of Jonggak Station, respectively. During these demonstrations, they explained the problems with state-issued textbooks to pedestrians and collected signatures for a petition.

On the previous day, around 400 history researchers gathered at the Seoul Museum of History in the Jongno District of Seoul to hold an assembly of historians opposing state-issued textbooks, while university students and teenagers also protested in various parts of downtown Seoul.

As of Nov. 1, around 560,000 people are thought to have indicated their opposition to state-issued textbooks by signing petitions online and on the streets. Thus far, the Network has collected about 315,000 signatures, while the parliamentary coalition has collected around 210,000 signatures.

In addition, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) announced that 21,758 teachers had signed a petition opposing the textbook plan as of 5 pm on Oct. 30, while Teenage Action Against State-Issued Textbooks, a group that is collecting signatures from teenagers, reported that 6,514 people had signed a declaration of opposition to state-issued textbooks as of the afternoon of Nov. 1.

As of 7 pm on Nov. 1, around 8,000 university students had expressed their opposition to the government‘s plan by adding their signatures on the university-based website History Petition.

On the morning of Nov. 2, the Network and Teenage Action will be holding a press conference in front of the Cheongwoon Hyoja Community Service Center before delivering the petitions to the Blue House.

The parliamentary coalition decided to have lawmakers who are on the National Assembly’s Education, Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee to submit its petition to the Ministry of Education.

But the Ministry has declined to make public even a simple tabulation of the opinions about the government’s plan that it has received so far by email and fax. The Ministry will continue to accept opinions from the public through Nov. 2, as outlined in government regulations.

“Since we are continuing to receive opinions, there is no way to know how many we have received so far. After the deadline for accepting opinions comes to an end tomorrow, we will make an exact tally of the opinions,” a Ministry official said on Sunday.

The Ministry is reportedly hurrying to finalize the textbook plan. “Nothing has been confirmed yet. We said that the decision would be made on Nov. 5, but this could be moved forward,” a senior official in the Ministry said.

By Park Su-ji, Bang Jun-ho and Jin Myeong-seon, staff reporters

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