Singapore promises to replace picture of Korean beggars: official

By Kim Boram

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- The Singaporean government has promised to replace a picture of Korean beggars printed in its primary school textbooks, an education ministry official here said on Monday.

The picture, printed in a social studies textbook for Singapore's public
elementary schools, shows several Korean homeless people sleeping under dirty
blankets at a subway station entrance, with the caption "Homeless people on the
street" next to it.
"We heard it from the Korean Embassy in Singapore," a ministry official, speaking
on condition of anonymity, told Yonhap, confirming that Seoul was promised the
withdrawal. "Singapore said that it will use a different photo in a textbook that
will be printed next year."
The image is accompanied by an explanation about the types of housing and the
causes of homelessness, saying: "In some countries, there is insufficient housing
for everyone."
It is very clear that the photograph was taken in South Korea, with the word
"exit" written in Korean lettering, or Hangeul, on the left side. The description
next to the photo reads: "Even with limited land, our government is able to
provide sufficient housing for the people." That line is seen by officials here
as an insinuation that South Korea fails to do so.
The official said that Singapore will not use a Korean picture again as the
textbook explains the types of housing in the world in general terms.
South Korea's education ministry came under criticism after the photograph and
the text were first reported by a Korean in Singapore on a Web site late last
month. The ministry had pledged to have them withdrawn as soon as possible.
"We received an answer from the Education Ministry of Singapore that it will
substitute the picture with another one in the new textbook planned for print in
November next year," said South Korea's embassy in Singapore in a statement
posted on "Hankookchon," an Internet bulletin board for Koreans residing in the
country.
The embassy said Singapore will also remove from next semester an erroneous
description that Korea was once a Russian colony. The error was discovered in
middle school history textbooks.
Seoul is pressed to rectify other errors and misunderstandings about Korea's
history, found so far in the textbooks of roughly 25 countries.
A report released early this month showed that a British high school textbook
describes Korea as a recipient of foreign food aid and does not distinguish
between North and South Korea, while an Italian textbook says Korea is ruled by a
military leader.