With the enactment of the Gifted and Talented Education Promotion Act (GTEPA) (2000) and the Gifted and Talented Education Promotion Enforcement Decree (GTEPED) (2002), South Korea acquired a full-fledged legal system for implementing gifted and talented education. Since 2000, the administration of gifted and talented education in South Korea entered a new level of development compared to the previous era. With the enactment, official defi-nitions of giftedness and gifted and talented education were adopted. Accordingly, gifted education was recognized and promulgated into society. The government mapped out a comprehensive plan for gifted education on legally firm ground with the concerted efforts from various ministries in the name of gifted and talented education. New types of educa-tional institutions and administrative systems for gifted education were founded such as gifted schools, gifted classes, gifted centers, and departments for gifted education. Lastly, the importance of educating each student in accordance with his/her potential gained more impetus when extremely low birthrates and an aging population threaten the sustainability of Korean society. In general, the enactment of the gifted education law acts as a divide of eras, before and after the law.
Key words: gifted and talented education promotion act, educational legal system, policy and administration in South Korea
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