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The Heritage of Korean Independence and the Kindergarten Teacher’s Union held a joint press conference and urged change of the current Japanese name for Korean preschools through a revision of the related law. The conference was backed up by the National Public and Private Kindergarten Teacher’s Union, National Special Education Teachers Association, Imagine Education Forum, and Federation of Teachers Unions.
Kim Won-woong, President of the Heritage of Korean Independence, said that the current ‘yuchiwon’ was the Japanese style naming of German ‘kindergarten’ and it should be changed to Korean style ‘yua-hakgyo’. ‘Yuchiwon was first used for Busan Yuchiwon 75 years ago and Kim pointed out it was a good example of the negligence of clearing Japanese cultures and practices rooted during the colonial era.
Kim sent an official paper to the National Assembly Education Committee on October 30, stating that there was a similar case that the National Assembly revised the Education Law changing the Japanese ‘Kukminhakkyo’ to Korean ‘Chodeunghakkyo’ for elementary schools in 1995 while he was serving as a law maker at the time.
백종원 기자 bridgekorea@naver.com
