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English was introduced as a compulsory subject in elementary schools in Korea in 1997. This resulted in the acceleration of English teacher education for this level. The training curriculum was reformed to meet the objective of enhancing the students' oral communication in English skills. In addition, English Teacher Assistants were introduced to enhance classroom discussions in English. The author examines the characteristics of English education in relation to the Japanese situation, which is said to be behind that of Korea. National differences in social background and various approaches to equal opportunity are examined. Problems with early English education in countries such as Japan and Korea where English is not used in daily life, are identified.