The Education Ministry threatened to take firm action against the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU) after it announced on 20 October that it would issue a political statement opposing the government’s decision to impose a single state-issued Korean history textbook in schools. Opposition parties and academics feared the new textbooks would manipulate and distort the narrative of how the South Korean state was created. The Ministry said in a press release the next day that it would take disciplinary measures and initiate criminal proceedings against teachers who signed a political statement or who attended unauthorised demonstrations.
The KTU went ahead with its statement, and total of 21,379 teachers from 3,904 schools across the country participated. The Ministry lived up to its threats, bringing charges against 84 members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU), including the executive members and the chairman Byun Seong-ho. The Ministry also said it would be sending official documents to local superintendents, requesting punishment of those who participated in the declaration.