The opposition and the southwestern city of Gwangju have criticized the education ministry’s new guidelines for textbooks for excluding the May 18 pro-democracy movement, commonly known as the “Gwangju Uprising.”

A group of lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party held a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday and denounced the omission as "serious damage" to democracy and a setback for advancement in the nation’s democracy.

Senior officials of Gwangju city, including its mayor and council members, issued similar concerns in a statement.

The guidelines, which serve as criteria for textbook writing, were finalized last month and will be used in elementary, middle and high schools from 2025.

In depicting the nation’s efforts to realize the idea and principle of democracy, the guidelines presented the April 19 Revolution and the June 10 Democratic Movement as examples, but not the Gwangju Uprising.

The education ministry said the Gwangju Uprising was removed in the process of streamlining education programs, stressing that its omission was not intentional. It went on to say that it will work to include the uprising in the actual writing of the books.

The presidential office, on its part, said the incumbent government had not made the omission, citing that the uprising was taken out in a draft that policy researchers submitted to the education ministry during the previous government.