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Historians are up in arms about the government¡¯s plan to purge Korean modern and contemporary history textbooks of what it says is leftwing bias. History scholars in a press conference at the Seoul Press Center on Wednesday released a statement urging the government and the ruling party to refrain from remarks that disgrace history scholars and teachers and stop stoking ideological dispute.
Among 21 participants were the Association for Korean Historical Studies, Korean History Research Institute, Association for Korean Modern and Contemporary History, Korean History Education Society, and Korean Association of History Education.
The scholars argued that if there are problems with history textbooks, they should be revised after being thoroughly reviewed by their authors or other historians. But for the government to try and revise them off its own back ¡°is tantamount to invalidating the current system of textbook authorization and seizing control,¡± they said. They demanded the government immediately stop putting undue pressure on textbook authors and guarantee academic professionalism and neutrality.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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