Debate ensued Monday over comments made by opposition party leader Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, who reportedly said that the government should “get rid of” the Education Ministry during a closed-door party meeting.

Ahn immediately rebutted that his words were taken out of context and said it was meant to emphasize the need to overhaul the nation’s education policy centered on college admission and minimize government intervention.

In the meeting with his aides and party staff, the People’s Party cochairman reportedly criticized the government’s interference with education policy and described the Education Ministry as an unnecessary organization, local news media reported on Sunday. 
Ahn claimed on Monday that his remarks were misinterpreted, saying, “It is inappropriate to inaccurately report on a private conversation.” His officials said the comment was intended as a “joke” to highlight the need for educational overhaul.

The entrepreneur-turned-politician has advocated the need for education reform and criticized the government for lacking long-term plans to oversee and improve the education policy. The former presidential candidate had proposed in 2012 to establish a presidential committee devoted to education issues.

“There is a serious mismatch between jobs and education,” said the leader on Monday. “Studying hard does not guarantee getting better jobs anymore. We need to discuss a plan to offer creative education and reform the system,” he said.

The centrist party leader has also highlighted that private colleges should be granted more authority to select their own students and that the current college admission system should be scrapped and replaced with more advanced systems such as writing tests tailored for different academic disciplines.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)