Amid Scandal, South Korean Officials Retreat on Controversial Textbook Plan

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The South Korean government indicated on Monday that it was rolling back its plan to require schools to use only state-issued history textbooks, an apparent shift for a signature project of President Park Geun-hye as she faces a corruption scandal and an escalating public backlash.

The Education Ministry unveiled the drafts of the new textbooks on Monday, asking for feedback from the public. But it wavered over its earlier decision to require all middle and high schools to use only the government-issued textbooks, starting next year.

That decision prompted criticism that Ms. Park’s conservative government was returning education to the country’s authoritarian past. Under the dictatorship of her father, President Park Chung-hee, the government wrote history textbooks and used them to justify his 1961 military coup and his 18-year rule.