President Park Geun-hye emphasized the importance of education in fostering creative talent.

In a New Year’s meeting with leaders of Korean education on January 8 in Seoul, President Park mentioned last year’s “Destination Imagination” project where all participating students received an award. She urged that the country needs an “education revolution” in order to incubate talented human resources so that the country could lead the world in an era where creativity and ideas drive the world and drive the global economy.




“An ‘education revolution’ needs to take place in the classroom. Classrooms should be a space of happiness,” said the president. President Park urged that the educational environment needs to teach students how to live together rather than how to compete, and that it needs to encourage them to develop both their dreams and talents as much as possible.

“The government will strive to change the paradigm of Korean education so that students will be able to fully develop and display their aptitude, talents, and creativity, and to develop both their personality and their intelligence in a balanced manner,” said the president.

Mentioning the “free semester” system which some middle schools have been test-operating over recent years, the president said, “If we change the basic framework of education, making it a ’creative education,’ and build a system to value individual capability rather than educational background, Korea’s education system can become the one required for the times.” 

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer 
arete@korea.kr