Data shows distorted facts on Korean history on the rise over past 3 years, but corrections falling

An Min-suk, a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, shows a map of the easternmost islets of Dokdo during a parliamentary audit at the National Assembly in Seoul, Oct. 11. Yonhap

The number of cases of distorted facts on Korean history identified by the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) rose over the past three years, but the proportion of corrections being made almost halved, government data showed Thursday.

The number of inaccuracies on Korean history compiled by KOCIS rose from 411 cases in 2020 to 443 in 2021 and 592 in 2022, according to the data submitted to Rep. Chun Jae-soo of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.

But of them, the proportion of information being corrected shrank by nearly half from 31.6 percent to 15.9 percent over the same three-year period.

KOCIS operates a "Facts Korea" website, which aims to correct misinformed, inaccurate and deliberately distorted facts on Korea and the country's history.

In particular, it saw a 47 percent uptick in cases in which Japan's preferred names were used to address the body of water and the rocky islets located between Korea and Japan.

Korea supports the use of the term "East Sea" to address the body of water bordered by the two nations while Japan calls it "Sea of Japan."

The two neighbors have also been at odds over the sovereignty of Dokdo, the rocky outcroppings in the East Sea.

Korea keeps a small police detachment on the islets, effectively controlling Dokdo. Still, Japan has repeatedly claimed sovereignty over the rocky outcroppings.

Japan's territorial claim over Dokdo has long been a key source of diplomatic friction in relations with Korea, where many people still harbor deep anti-Japanese resentment for its brutal 1910-45 colonial rule. (Yonhap)