`New Right' sets off uproar with history textbook

Choi Seung-ho from the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism holds a document showing that Chun Jae-kook, the eldest son of former President Chun Doo-hwan, set up a paper company in the British Virgin Islands on July 28, 2004, during a news conference in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap

By Kim Tae-gyu

A new history textbook from Kyohak Publishing is generating a public uproar for suspected wholesale historical fabrication.

"New Right" scholar Kwon Hee-young, head of the Association for Contemporary Korean History, is among the writers. Kwon's organization is said to be behind distortions strewn throughout the textbook that has been given preliminary approval for school use.

Its exact content will be announced only after a final review in August but judging by the New Right scholar's stance, sources say that the schoolbook underrates pro-democracy movements.

For instance, the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980 is termed "a riot," while the April 19 Student Revolution in 1960 is a "student movement."

The Gwangju incident was a bloody struggle by citizens against the dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan who rose to power through a coup. The April revolution had students lead a fight against and topple the corrupt and incompetent government of inaugural President Syngman Rhee.

The right-wing scholars tend to deprecate independence fighters against Japan in the early 20th century as terrorists based on the pro-Japanese view that the 1910-45 colonial rule helped Korea modernize.

"The biggest problem of the so-called New Right historians is that they negate the constitutional spirit on how we gained independence from Japan and how we achieved democracy after a long dictatorship" Professor Han Sang-kwon at Sungshin Women's University said.

"If the new textbook wins final approval in August, schools can take it as their official history book beginning next March. We need to join hands to stop it."

The textbook not only concerns experts but also angers citizens, who threaten to boycott any books published by Kyohak Publishing. Some even say that if their schools opt for the history book, they will transfer their children to another school.

They contend that Korea cannot lash out at Japanese rightists who have attempted to gloss over their colonial rule and wartime atrocities if the country itself cannot prevent the publication of a pro-Japanese, ultra-rightist textbook.

Kyohak Publishing said that the new textbook does not contain the content that people worry about but refused to reveal details citing that it can't do so before getting the final green light in August.

The National Institute of Korean History (NIKH), which is in charge of reviewing the new textbook, also said that the New Right historians were not allowed to add any illegitimate facts or politicize explanations.

It said the textbook is not similar to the New Right's "alternative" history book in 2008 that contained a lot of ideology-oriented content.

"As far as we know, two of seven writers of the textbook are New Right scholars. They are not permitted to deviate from our strict guidelines set out in advance," an NIKH official said.

"It is simply impossible to call the Gwangju uprising a riot or describe any military coups as desirable."

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