the new history textbooks are worrying koreans! some teachers say "it may give students a distorted understanding of history"
2024-09-02
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[global times special correspondent zhao zhen] yonhap news agency reported on august 30 that the south korean ministry of education announced the results of the review of the new education curriculum for elementary, junior high and high school textbooks on the same day. south korean elementary school third to fourth grade, junior high school first grade and high school first grade students will use the new version of textbooks in 2025. among them, the content of the new version of the history textbook has attracted the most attention.
according to reports, there are 7 publishers of junior high school history textbooks and 9 publishers of high school korean history textbooks that have passed the review. schools across south korea can choose any set of history textbooks. among them, the history textbook of the korea academic degree evaluation institute, which passed the review for the first time, was evaluated as "describing modern history from a conservative perspective." one of the controversial points is a statement in the book: "president syngman rhee announced to the domestic and foreign countries the establishment of a government of the republic of korea based on liberal democracy," using the term "liberal democracy" instead of the "democracy" previously used by the "progressive academic community." the use of "liberal democracy" has been supported by south korean conservatives, and the argument is based on the "liberal democratic basic order" mentioned in the south korean constitution adopted in 1987. liberals believe that this expression carries a special meaning of the 20th century background and suggest using only the more neutral expression "democracy."
two other controversial points in this version of the textbook are the discussion on the "comfort women" issue and the content about south korea's first president syngman rhee.
according to the hankyoreh, the content about "comfort women" in the textbooks of the korea academy of education and research is far less than that of other publishers. textbooks of other publishers usually include the concept of "comfort women" of the japanese army, the main characters, and the changes in the japanese government's position. the textbooks of the korea academy of education and research simplify this content and do not directly mention the sexual exploitation and abuse suffered by women, but indirectly state that "young women were dragged away and lived a terrible life."
when it comes to content related to syngman rhee, the term "dictatorship" is used in textbooks from multiple publishers, but the textbook from the academy of academic evaluation did not mention it, instead using the term "extended rule" instead.
according to reports, the textbooks of the korea academic degrees evaluation institute also extensively introduce the "autonomy movement" during the japanese occupation, saying that advocates of autonomy advocate "rather than fighting japanese imperialism, it is better to recognize colonial rule and ensure the autonomy and political rights of koreans." a korean history teacher commented that most supporters of autonomy are in the dictionary of pro-japanese names, and the "autonomy movement" is also described as an unreasonable claim in existing textbooks. the positive description of this part can be interpreted as "recognizing the pro-japanese logic."
some people therefore questioned whether the editors of the textbooks of the korea academic evaluation service were neo-rightists. according to the hankyoreh, a high school history teacher said that the textbooks might give students a "distorted understanding of history," which was worrying.
