Historian Offers Insight on Globalization, Its Discontent
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Koreans' high self-esteem and pride in their culture has been lost for a long time as people have been eager to learn the western belief system after the nation achieved independence from Japan in 1945, said a noted historian.
``The quest for globalization was underway in the 1890s when the grassroots people had a high level of esteem in their own culture,'' said Jung Ok-ja, chairwoman of the National Institute of Korean History.
``This high self-esteem in the traditional cultural heritage posed a setback for the leaders of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) when they were striving to incorporate elements of Western culture into their way of life at the time,'' she said in an interview with The Korea Times last week.
Jung, who served as a professor for the Department of Korean History at Seoul National University for 27 years before joining the institute, was asked to assume the post in March by President Lee Myung-bak.
Since taking office, she has made it a top priority to launch several public awareness programs that will give the people a better understanding of their cultural heritage.
``Current political leaders can learn wisdom from history. They should look into what happened particularly at the onset of the modernization period in the 1890s to see what factors led then King Gojong of Joseon and his deputies to fail in their reform drive for their version of globalization,'' Jung said.
The historian observed that there is one thing in common between what happened in the 1890s and what is going on now ― the old and current leaders have paid little attention to facilitating communication with their people regarding the need for change.
``If the leaders in the two time periods had made a strong case for globalization before pushing through their reform drives, things would have evolved in a very different way,'' she said.
An estimated 20,000 citizens joined candlelit vigils in downtown Seoul, Sunday, to protest the government's decision to resume imports of U.S. beef. The rallies, which began nine days ago, continued until 4:30 a.m. Monday. The protesters began to disperse when police arrested 70 activists for violence.
The Web site of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) was closed all day long on the same day as bloggers hacked the site and posted images that made fun of the President Lee Myung-bak and the government.
The public anger caused by the decision to resume the U.S. beef imports has dragged the President's popularity down further ― Lee celebrated his 100th day in office with his approval rating hitting rock bottom. His support in the latest Chosun Ilbo poll was as low as 21.2 percent, the lowest among presidents taking power since the 1990s in their first 100 days.
The presidential office announced that Lee would replace some Cabinet members as public discontent about the beef imports has become seemingly out of control.
As to the beef import issue, the scholar said, ``Political leaders in both the 1890s and now have one thing in common: they used a top-down leadership when stakes were high. They skipped a consensus building process that is needed for the public to build awareness of why they need the change now.''
She said, ``If the public shared the view that globalization was unavoidable, the leaders might have not faced such a hostile political landscape.''
History Affairs
Two different versions of historic disputes have been played out so far ― one is an intra debate regarding Korean history triggered by different points of view between conservative and liberal historians, while the other comprises inter-state territorial disputes with China and Japan.
A group of historians affiliated with a hard core conservative group dubbed the New Right published a history textbook in March, which addressed the alternative points of view about historic incidents mostly taking place in the modernization and contemporary eras.
The authors of the textbook were critical about North Korea, while giving positive comments on the legacy of Japanese colonial rule, claiming that the period played a role in accelerating the industrialization of this country.
The education ministry requested the history institute to review the publication to see if it can be used in schools.
Jung said a group of experts at the institute had investigated the material and found that it is inappropriate for school textbooks.
``Our experts turned in a 50-page report to me after reviewing it thoroughly. They found the new publication has several factual errors as well as some misleading interpretations about the colonial rule period,'' she said.
Jung stressed liberalism or conservatism should not be regarded as a goal in history studies as they are simply the tools or vehicles that are needed to achieve the goal of a balanced perspective of what happened in the past years.
As for the territory disputes with Japan over the Dokdo Islets, the historian said truth and facts are two guiding lights that will help resolve the difficult issue.
``I think local historians should dig further into past records about the islets and present their research work as evidence to support the fact that the territory is ours,'' she said.
The chairwoman lost her parents and siblings during the 1950-53 Korean War, and her personal background affected her advocating peace as a primary value she should pursue as a historian.
Jung's areas of specialization are the unprecedented peaceful period of the late Joseon Dynasty.
``During the period that had lasted about 250 years, the rulers of Joseon focused on rebuilding our own culture as well as the country. The people having lived in East Asia during that time had lived in peace, which was possible as the regional power Qing Dynasty was seeking soft power,'' she said.
Public Awareness Programs
As chairwoman of the institute, Jung has made efforts to make Korean history and culture easier to understand by the people.
Historians at the institute worked on translating the lengthy Annals of Joseon, which comprises 1,893 books covering 472 years from 1392 to 1863, into modern Korean for a few years and have uploaded the translation to the institute's Web site.
The online copy is available to the public for free.
``The online service helped a lot of scholars and those who were interested in history,'' Jung said.
The chairwoman said experts in the institute are now working on another large volume of history books written in the Joseon era, predicting the online copy would be available in two or three years time.
The institute has administered a certified test of Korean history with three different levels of certification ― basic, intermediate and advanced ― from last year.
This year's exam will take place early this month. The number of applicants for the test this time has increased by 50 percent from that of the previous one.
Jung said the number would go up further in the future as more and more businesses such as GS Caltex joined the move to build a better understanding of history by requiring their employees to submit certificate to their workplace.
Despite the efforts, Jung admitted many people still have difficulties in accessing traditional culture, adding that the challenge forces her and her people at the institute to work harder.