By Kim Se-jeong
The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) said Sunday it will propose a bill to ban state authorship of history textbooks this week.
The move comes four days after the government announced the plan in an official gazette to control publishing of history textbooks.
“With the goal of setting up the basis for democracy, we will submit a bill to prevent state-authored textbooks,” said Rep. Choi Jae-cheon, chairman of the NPAD policy committee.
“The new law will state the importance of democracy and diversity in history education. We plan to have the law take effect immediately after its passage.”
This poses another obstacle to the government’s campaign for the state textbooks, with the primary obstacle coming from the process of finding writers.
The National Institute of Korean History (NIKH) said Wednesday that it will receive applications from scholars up to 6 p.m. today. It plans to use a total of 36 authors, 25 of whom will be selected among independent applicants.
The institute is encouraging teachers and scholars to apply; but getting enough applicants is a tough challenge, as the majority of these oppose the policy.
Even for those interested, being an author can be a risky move as the project is drawing more opposition than support among citizens. The NIKH said it may not disclose the names of authors to protect them.
Additionally, a lead author who was appointed earlier, Seoul National University professor emeritus Choi Mong-ryong, resigned from the post Friday after being accused of sexually harassing a female journalist.
He drank with several journalists who interviewed him on the day of his appointment, Wednesday, and allegedly kissed the journalist on the cheek and groped her.
With Choi gone, Shin Hyung-sik, professor emeritus from Ewha Womans University, is expected to lead the project.
Opponents of the textbook policy have argued that one single textbook will deprive students of having different perspectives about history. They claim the book produced by the conservative administration will glorify pro-Japanese collaborators and the dictatorship of former President Park Chung-hee, father of current President Park Geun-hye.
The government, however, argued that the existing eight textbooks by private publishers are biased and pro-North Korea, and that it was time for the government to step in to “correct” the biased views.