By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) has accused the United States Forces Korea (USFK) of misrepresenting or misunderstanding Korean history.
VANK said American soldiers and their families here may be told that Korea has only a 1,339-year history, under the USFK's education program, dubbed ``Head-Start,'' as opposed to 4,340 years.
When foreigners read the program offered by the U.S. Eighth Army, they may believe Korean history started in 668 A.D. the agency added.
According to the education program, Korean history is divided into three main periods _ the Silla (668-935 A.D.), Goryeo (932-1392 A.D.), and the Yi (1392-1910 A.D.) dynasties.
It fails to include Gojoseon (about 2333 B.C.), the first kingdom formed on the Korean Peninsula, and also the country's main kingdoms such as Goguryeo (37 B.C.-668 A.D.) and Baekje (18 B.C.-660 A.D.).
Additionally, the Silla Kingdom was founded in 57 B.C. according to Korean and Asian historians. The year of 668 A.D. specified on the program is the year when the Three Kingdoms _ Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla _ were unified into one.
The U.S. Army also did not comment on Balhae (698-926), which was established after the fall of Goguryeo.
``Misleading facts are being delivered to U.S. soldiers,'' a VANK representative said. ``The government should demand the USFK correct the erroneous education program.''
The civic group official said a U.S. textbook for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) preparation _ The 2007 edition of the World History Textbook released by Barons _ has also identified the Silla Kingdom as Korea's first nation without mentioning the previous entities.
VANK also said there are many misrepresentations of Korea history on the Web sites www.army.mil and www.state.gov.
The U.S. Army Headquarters has argued that Korea was a vassal state of China. ``The Chinese had forced their thought, customs and manners into the Korean culture and had turned Korea into a virtual satellite,'' it said.