Minister Lee Jung-ok of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family: "Nadawoom Children's Book is Not a Sole Project of the Ministry, Withdrawal is Inevitable"

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Minister Lee Jung-ok of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] Regarding the recently decided recall of some 'Nadaum Children's Books,' Lee Jung-ok, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, stated, "We tried to build social consensus, but it was practically difficult. If it were a project managed solely by us, we could have engaged in some value debates, but we had to consider our relationship with the partner."

Minister Lee responded this way during an online briefing with reporters covering the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 31st concerning the controversy over the recall of Nadaum books.

Nadaum books are selected from books that break away from gender stereotypes and prejudices, respect diversity, and contain gender sensitivity. Previously, some organizations raised issues that seven types of ten books related to sex education among the Nadaum books promoted homosexuality and were sensational, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced its intention to recall them.

Minister Lee explained, "This project started as a tripartite agreement among the company providing the fund, the social organization managing the fund, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family," adding, "The Ministry actively intervened by recommending experts with various expertise in related fields or those who could represent the average perspective of our citizens, including elementary school teachers and children's literature experts."

Furthermore, Minister Lee said, "Since it was a corporate social contribution project, we could not disregard the relationship with the partner institution, and we did not want the journey of discovering 'Nadaum' to become a social conflict factor." She added, "We wanted to build social consensus through dialogue, but one of the related parent organizations we tried to engage with was revealed to be infected with COVID-19, making it practically difficult to seek such consensus."

Minister Lee emphasized, "Recalling the books does not undermine the responsibility, representativeness, or sincerity of the judges."

Regarding the late Mayor Park Won-soon's case, she said, "For power-type elected officials, in a system adopting popular sovereignty, regulation is very difficult without citizen recall or intervention by the Election Commission," but added, "An important improvement we could make within our authority was to strengthen the reporting system and create a structure allowing reports to be made externally rather than within the organization."

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She stated that the Ministry will actively cooperate with Seoul City to allow the 2030 generation to freely raise grievances about power relations felt in the workplace and closely collaborate on improving related systems. Minister Lee said, "Seoul City has accepted consulting for organizational culture improvement and agreed to cooperate," adding, "Since the National Human Rights Commission has accepted a suo motu investigation, we will observe further and continue to check and confirm additional support measures for victims." She also mentioned that discussions with Seoul City are ongoing regarding conditions that would allow victims to return to work and have smooth workplace lives.

Regarding the project of the organization supporting former 'comfort women' of the Japanese military, she said, "We are continuously double-checking whether the support funds are properly reaching the grandmothers," adding, "The budget for the Justice and Memory Foundation's subsidy project is 500 million won, with 200 million won allocated for the second half of the year, but it is difficult to conclude whether to continue execution due to ongoing prosecution investigations."

Minister Lee stated, "Regarding the abortion law, there seems to be a habitual overinterpretation of the right to protect life," and added, "I hope there will now be a shift toward considering women's right to decide and health rights."

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Lee Jeong-ok [Photo by Yonhap News]

Regarding the controversy over 'blackface' triggered by 'Gwanjjag Sonyeondan' (Coffin Dance), she emphasized that multicultural understanding education will be conducted more actively. Minister Lee said, "Multiculturalism should not be understood only as immigrant families through marriage or just listed superficially," adding, "It requires recognition through mutual respect, so we want to strengthen cultural understanding education a bit more."

On the theory of abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, she expressed pain as the minister in charge, saying, "There are limits to responding to harm, and these points are expressed as disappointment toward the Ministry." She continued, "We bear the responsibility to comprehensively cover blind spots in care areas and realize international agendas," emphasizing, "I think one cause is the lack of public acceptance or understanding of the projects we are undertaking. We will communicate diligently."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.