Education Committee, Opposition Expresses "Regret" Over Budget Cut for Research on Japan's Historical Distortion Response

Next Year's Ministry of Education Budget Proposal Passes Standing Committee on the 21st

On the 21st, the ruling and opposition parties approved the Ministry of Education's budget for next year at the National Assembly's Education Committee. While the budget for educational projects supporting socially disadvantaged groups was increased, the research budget to counter Japan's historical distortion was cut, prompting the opposition party to express regret.

At the full meeting of the Education Committee held at the National Assembly that afternoon, the ruling and opposition parties approved the Ministry of Education's budget for next year at 95.655674 trillion won, sending it to the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts. This amount is 30.313 billion won more than the original proposal submitted by the Ministry of Education.

By detailed item, the 200 million won support project for the designation of education free zones was completely cut, while the 'Adult Literacy Education Program Operation Support Project' to expand educational opportunities for the disabled and vulnerable groups was increased by 2.061 billion won. Additionally, 1.26 billion won was added to the operation project of the National Lifelong Education Promotion Center for the Disabled, and 27.58 billion won was added to the project for reinforcing aging facilities and equipment at national universities.

The qualification acquisition support project, which was temporarily promoted to support employment for vocational high school students during the spread of COVID-19, will be pursued again next year, with a new budget of 10 billion won allocated for this support project.

The Korea Student Aid Foundation's contribution project increased by a total of 6.864 billion won to expand interest exemption on income-contingent student loans, and in the field of establishing a research base for science and engineering academic research, 130 billion won was allocated for the newly established Youth Future Talent Research Activity Support Project.

Along with this, the early childhood education and childcare fee support project increased by 197.624 billion won to raise the play process fee support unit, which was frozen in 2023, by 20,000 won per person. The private school staff pension fund, necessary for the smooth operation of the private school staff and pension recipients' living stabilization loan project, was increased by 163.441 billion won.

However, the Democratic Party sharply criticized the budget bill, pointing out that the budget for research to counter Japan's historical distortion was cut by about 70% compared to this year.

Democratic Party lawmaker Yoo Ki-hong said, "Japan is becoming more blatant in distorting history textbooks, especially strengthening claims over Dokdo sovereignty," adding, "One of the main reasons the Budget and Accounts Subcommittee met three times this time was because the Ministry of Education refused to increase the budget for the Northeast Asian History Foundation support project, which includes the budget to counter Japan's historical distortion and Dokdo response." He criticized, "The research budget on Japanese colonial invasion history decreased from 1.91 billion won this year to 476 million won next year, cutting it to a quarter. Although it is somewhat fortunate that opposition lawmakers strongly requested and partially restored it, the government's attitude toward historical issues shown during this budget review process is deeply regrettable."

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