An incorrectly rendered South Korean flag in a middle school textbook shows the red portion of the central taegeuk symbol curving toward the lower right instead of the lower left. (Facebook account of Seo Kyoung-duk)
An incorrectly rendered South Korean flag in a middle school textbook shows the red portion of the central taegeuk symbol curving toward the lower right instead of the lower left. (Facebook account of Seo Kyoung-duk)

South Korea’s Education Ministry has ordered the correction of a middle school textbook that depicts the Taegeukgi’s central symbol curving in the wrong direction.

The ministry said late Tuesday that the publisher had prepared an erratum featuring the correct image and would post it on its website. Correction notices are expected to reach schools within a week.

“The Education Ministry confirmed that the textbook contains an error in an image of the Korean flag, and we regret that the national flag, a symbol of the country, was depicted incorrectly,” it said.

The error came to public attention after Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, posted a photograph of the government-approved Korean-language textbook on Facebook.

In the textbook, the red portion of the central taegeuk symbol curves toward the lower right instead of the lower left, as it does on the official flag.

Fencing gold medalist Oh Sang-wuk holds up the South Korean flag at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the red portion of its taegeuk symbol correctly curving toward the lower left. (Herald DB)
Fencing gold medalist Oh Sang-wuk holds up the South Korean flag at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the red portion of its taegeuk symbol correctly curving toward the lower left. (Herald DB)

“The publisher bears responsibility, but this is also a government-approved textbook authorized by the Education Ministry, so the ministry must recognize that it bears significant responsibility as well,” Seo wrote Tuesday.

The ministry said it would examine depictions of national symbols in all government-approved textbooks to prevent similar errors.


seungku99@heraldcorp.com