Falling literacy revives debate in S. Korea over Chinese characters in class

The National Education Commission of South Korea in April said it may review ways to strengthen education of Chinese characters, or "Hanja", including the possible addition of Chinese character annotations in textbooks, as part of broader efforts to improve student literacy.

"I think our discussions will mainly focus on reading, writing and vocabulary, but the issue of Hanja education will likely be the most controversial," said Kim Kyung-hoe, chair of the NEC's special committee on literacy. Hanja are Chinese characters traditionally used in written Korean.