28 November 2016•Update: 28 November 2016
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea’s embattled government released a set of state-published history textbooks Monday, criticized by opponents as an attempt to enforce a one-sided view of the past on students.
The books introduced by Education Minister Lee Joon-sik at a press briefing were compiled by selected authors with “authority in the academic circle” and will replace the eight existing options for middle and high schools from next year.
But the new set’s release coincides with an unprecedented downturn in popularity suffered by President Park Geun-hye, against whom nearly two million people rallied across the country last Saturday in a fifth consecutive weekend of demonstrations calling for her resignation.
While Park’s leadership crisis stems from her alleged involvement in a continuing corruption scandal, she has been accused of using history textbooks to whitewash the 1961-79 authoritarian rule of her late father, former President Park Chung-hee.
Certainly, the materials -- available to all in eBook form -- do contain several contentious statements, even if Lee told reporters that they were “developed with the aim of our students gaining a balanced view of history and proper view of state, not leaning towards any particular ideology.”
For example, they adhere to the conservative political understanding that South Korea was established in 1948, rather than the liberal insistence that the country was founded in 1919 by a government-in-exile during Japan’s colonial rule.
Moreover, the new textbooks represent a general pushback against a hitherto allegedly left-leaning accommodation of North Korea by insisting it was the North that started the 1950-53 Korean War -- and that Pyongyang has been responsible for widespread human rights violations and continued military provocations.
As for Park Chung-hee, the ministry admitted that compared to the present school options, the chosen materials offer a more glowing assessment of the country’s economic revival under the strongman ruler.
Touted liberal presidential candidate Moon Jae-in lambasted the government for behaving like a dictatorship after they announced the original plan for state-published textbooks – now he is among those pushing forward an impeachment motion against the current leader.
The recent pressure on the Park administration appears to have softened the stance of the education ministry, which is welcoming online feedback with the suggestion that amendments could yet be made to the textbooks.
