A Critical Examination of the “Interpretation” in Teaching Korean Kim, Jung-woo This article examines the concept of interpretation and a desirable direction of the interpretation activity in teaching Korean. The text-based comprehension has been highly emphasized in teaching Korean so far, but gradually the importance of reader-based comprehension has been recognized, in which the subjective interpretation and the creative production of meaning play an important role. There is also a change in teaching Korean literature from simply teaching students the knowledge about works to developing their ability of meaning construction and creative writing. The 7th revised curriculum reflects these changes and focuses on the interpretative usage of language, but it doesn't exactly tell what the interpretative usage of language means, nor makes clear the relationship between the interpretative usage of language and the interpretation in the domain of literature.This article aims to solve these questions and problems reading Yook-sa Lee's two famous poems, “Wilderness” and “The Zenith.” There are so many interpretations about these poems, each one trying to reach the objective validity of the interpretation based on the structure of the text and intertextuality only to conflict with the other interpretations. This shows that the meaning of a text is constructed by the reader who is trying to find plausibility considering the relationship among text, author, and other interpretations. I think it is necessary to focus on the interpretation as an activity mediating reading and writing in teaching Korean, which will lead to an understanding of the reader as an active agency rather than a passive recipient of meaning in the study of Korean language and literature.