Based on the socio-historical dynamics of English ideologies that percolated into Korean society, this paper explored the significant aspects of ESL ideology in the Korean context. Despite the generally accepted EFL context in Korea, the country is situated at the intersection between two categories: ESL from a perspective of English ideologies and EFL from a perspective of societal context. As a proto-ideology of English, ESL ideology, which dates back to the United States Military rule in Korea, was further theoretically developed by the Peabody/Korean team, and its implementation was attempted by the Peace Corps. Although activating ESL has failed in Korean society, its ideology "per se" remains unchanged, (re)generating other English ideologies including "Spoken English First," "Ten-year English Fiasco," and "Earlier the Better English Education" ideologies. This study found that the discrepancy between ESL as the ideological domain and EFL as the practical domain has brought about some confusion in English education policy and practices.