|
A book containing gruesome scenes of Koreans threatening and raping Japanese who flee Korea in the aftermath of World War II is being used as a middle-school course book in the U.S. despite complaints from Korean Americans.
Written by Japanese-American Yoko Kawashima Watkins, "So Far from the Bamboo Grove" depicts the time when the Japanese colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula ended in 1945 from the perspective of 11-year old Yoko, who has to flee Korea with her family. In the story, reportedly based on the real-life experiences of the writer, young Yoko witnesses Koreans¡¯ ruthless attacks and rape of the fleeing Japanese and the ensuing hunger, agony and death while she escapes from Nanam in today¡¯s North Korea through Seoul and Busan to Japan.
The book was translated and published here in 2005, despite the fact that it was banned in both Japan and China.
The Boston Globe in a series of reports said some Korean American parents and students complained about the book, which is used as a set text around the U.S. According to the daily, the Dover-Sherborn Regional School Committee recently voted to revamp English lessons based on the book. The vote came following a demand from 13 parents who said the story was biased and the scenes of rape too graphic for 11- to 13-year olds.
The newspaper quotes a Korean American mother who worries that the book portrays Koreans as villains while remaining mute about Japanese atrocities during Korea¡¯s 40-year occupation. She voiced concern about the book¡¯s influence on his son, whose own great-grandfather she says was beaten to death by the Japanese for speaking Korean, the Globe said.
But the book reportedly gets mixed reactions in the Korean American community there. Jeff Lee, a 17-year-old Korean American student at Dover-Sherborn High School spoke in favor of the book, saying, ¡°I think it should just be taught better," the report said. "It's a good book -- I really liked it."
Carter Eckert, a professor of Korean history at Harvard, meanwhile, argues, ¡°While Yoko's story is compelling as a narrative of survival, it achieves its powerful effect in part by eliding the historical context¡± in which many Koreans were, the newspaper reminds them, ¡°conscripted for forced labor and sexual slavery to serve the Japanese imperial war machine.¡±
The Korean Consul General in Boston Ji Young-sun said the issue was first raised last September, when Korean American parents near Boston and in New York publicly complained about the book being used as a set text. This prompted an organized campaign against the book. Ji said many Korean students were shocked by the book and experienced discrimination because of it.
Ji said the fact that the book is taught in U.S. schools was ¡°in a way racial discrimination and violation of human rights,¡± adding Korean parents will file formal complaints with U.S. education authorities and state government. The consulate has already written to federal and state education authorities.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
