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Materials show that the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union excerpted a North Korean history textbook verbatim to write more than two-thirds of a 92-page long booklet without disclosing the source. It was then used in a seminar for the members of its Busan chapter in October. The textbook was reprinted in South Korea by Ilsongjeong publishers in 1983.

The cover of a seminar booklet by the Busan chapter of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union, two-thirds of which excerpt a North Korean history book.

The booklet reproduces North Korea’s tall claims for the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung’s anti-Japanese activities during the Japanese colonial era and describes the Korean War as a “struggle to liberate the motherland.” Quoting a U.S-based sociologist, it also hails North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s Songun or military-first policy as a “unique achievement.”

Je Seong-ho, a law professor at JoongAng University, said the materials are illegal under the National Security Law since they deny the historical views of South Korea while promoting the North’s perspective. More worryingly, teachers thus instructed could pass on these warped views to impressionable students.

The union’s Busan chapter is no stranger to controversy, making headlines last year with anti-globalization video teaching materials on the APEC summit last November that lampooned heads of state, notably U.S. President George W. Bush. The chapter declined the Chosun Ilbo’s request for a comment.

(englishnews@chosun.com )