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The Textbook Forum, a group set up by new right intellectuals with the goal of correcting ideological bias in Korea¡¯s history textbooks, has published its first alternative textbook on the history of modern and contemporary Korea. The text is the result of three years of efforts since the forum was launched in 2005.
The public was shocked back in 2004 when a National Assembly audit of the government revealed that 49.5 percent of high schools studying modern and contemporary Korean history had chosen a text published by Kumsung that is based on a historical view of Korea from the perspective of ¡°the masses¡± and describing every aspect of the Republic of Korea in a negative way, while depicting North Korea as a mightily progressive place. There were growing calls to stop our children learning history from the outdated perspectives of narrow-minded nationalism and class struggle. Some scholars published a few texts, but students continued to be surrounded by outdated, leftwing history texts and supplementary materials.
The most prominent characteristic of the alternative textbook by the Textbook Forum is the fact that Korea¡¯s modern and contemporary history is viewed from a global perspective that embraces the developments of contemporary international history. Emerging from the simplistic composition of resistance to foreign invasions, the alternative text has shifted attention to international relations and global economic systems that have set the standards for our history. The book contains a positive assessment of the enlightened movement, an objective evaluation of the establishment of the Republic of Korea by Syngman Rhee and others, and the modernization driven by Park Chung-hee, plus a look at North Korea¡¯s status from the perspective of world history.
By broadening the scope of history, the alternative text makes it possible to gain a more balanced understanding of the path the Republic of Korea took to become a success. Using the latest research on the division of the Korean Peninsula and the Korean War, the text clearly points out the responsibility of the former Soviet Union and North Korea ? a departure from previous texts, which simply repeated the leftwing revisionist interpretation of history from the 1970s and 80s. The alternative text has its problems too. It could be accused of bias for viewing contemporary history from the perspective of one school of thought, especially in the area of Japanese colonial occupation. While it recognizes the brutality and coercion marked by the Japanese occupation, it depicts the Korean economy as having developed as a result of colonization.
But at least we are able to take the first step toward finding a balance in the field of history education, which had been dominated by leftwing accounts. However, the alternative text can only be used as auxiliary material in classrooms until 2010, when a new textbook selection will take place to replace the current textbooks, which went into use in 2003. Society and the country¡¯s educators must join hands to find ways to let our children access new texts that will enable them to take a broader view of their country¡¯s modern history.
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