Parliament committee passes bill to ban state-authored history textbook

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- The parliament's education committee on Friday passed a bill to ban state-authored textbooks amid the boycott from conservative parties.

The National Assembly Education, Culture, Sports & Tourism Committee approved the bill that bans the use of textbooks whose copyrights are held by the government.

The bill targets the Park Geun-hye government's plan to provide middle and high school students with state-authored history textbooks, which critics say is intended to imbue students with rightist views of the nation's modern history.

Liberals criticized it for glorifying the military dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, father of President Park Geun-hye, who seized power through a coup and ruled the country from 1961-1979.

The ruling Saenuri Party and its splinter Bareun Party walked out of the committee session before the bill was passed by the main opposition Democratic Party and the People's Party.

colin@yna.co.kr
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