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Faulty South Korean Flag Found in Middle School Textbook... Ministry of Education Apologizes Amid Criticism

Lee Gang

Published : Sep 2, 2026 8:01 AM

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A "faulty Taegeukgi" (South Korean national flag) has been found in a middle school textbook.

It has been belatedly confirmed that a middle school textbook published by a publishing company featured an illustration of the national flag that was drawn incorrectly.

Professor Seo Kyoung-duk of Sungshin Women's University posted on social media that he received a tip from a parent stating that "the Taegeuk pattern of the national flag is incorrectly drawn in a second-semester, second-grade middle school Korean language textbook published by a publishing company."

In addition, the description of a photo in the textbook's self-study guide was reportedly marked incorrectly.

It is said that the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan was written as the "2002 Korea World Cup."

Professor Seo pointed out that "such things happening in textbooks that children learn from is unacceptable," adding that "not only the publishing company, but also the Ministry of Education, which approved the government-authorized textbooks, shares a heavy responsibility."

The Ministry of Education acknowledged the error in the textbook and issued an apology.

Furthermore, the ministry decided to conduct a full inspection of illustrations of national symbols featured in all textbooks and strengthen reviews during the authorization screening stage to prevent such errors from recurring.

(Photo courtesy of Professor Seo Kyoung-duk's social media)