By Jun Ji-hye
Foreign textbooks for elementary, middle and high school students around the world contain over 600 errors or incorrect information on Korea, said Rep. Kim Tae-won of the Saenuri Party on Sunday.
According to a report that the Academy of Korean Studies submitted to Kim for a parliamentary audit, it found 602 cases of inaccurate information on Korea in 289 foreign schoolbooks out of 543 that they researched between 2008 and 2011.
Among the errors, only 91 cases have been corrected, while 511 cases still remain unchanged.
The errors included a Kuwaiti schoolbook stating that Koreans speak Chinese and an Argentinian text describing Korea as having a tropical climate under which malaria is endemic. On the naming of the East Sea, most books use the "Sea of Japan." Another common inclusion is the simultaneous use of both the “East Sea” and “Sea of Japan” in other books. Instances of using only the “East Sea” were very rare.
Ironically, some of these incorrect pieces of information were found in textbooks produced in countries such as the U.S., Germany and Russia with longstanding friendly ties with Korea.
However, according to Rep. Kim, the government’s budget to support correcting these identified errors has been insufficient. It varies each year, 920 million won ($828,000) for 2003 and 794 million won for this year.
Manpower shortage was cited as another factor. There are currently only six researchers working in the department charged with the responsibility of correcting such errors in foreign schoolbooks, of which three are contract workers.
Kim warned that “If the government neglects foreign textbook errors and untrue or distorted information about Korea, it risks jeopardizing the nation’s prestige and standing with possible ramifications on issues such as diplomacy, trade and culture.”
“Of urgent concern is the need to secure a stable budget and adequate manpower to manage this issue,” he added.