Investigation of Distortion in Chinese History Textbooks

Because the Korean government has found out that revisions of history textbooks in Chinese junior high and high schools can be made at any time depending on the Chinese government’s decisions, it has decided to examine Chinese history textbooks in earnest and to demand the Chinese government to revise them as soon as their distortion of Goguryo history is proven.

A government official said on Monday, “The revision time of Chinese history textbooks was originally known to be next year. However, we found out that the history textbooks can be revised even before September when the new semester starts, depending on its government’s decision. The Korean Embassy in China will examine Chinese history textbooks for this upcoming semester to check and see if there are any distortions.”

The government and the ruling party held the ruling party-government council meeting on the same day attended by Lee Soo-hyuk, the deputy assistant secretary of Foreign Ministry, and Cheon Jung-bae, the Uri Party’s floor leader. They decided to form a “Pan-Government Countermeasure Committee” and to consider all possible measures, not only political but also scientific, to deal with this history distortion issue.

The Pan-Government Countermeasure Committee is one step further from the current working-level meetings led by the Foreign Ministry. Relevant government offices, including Cheong Wa Dae, and the ruling party will participate in the committee. They are considering putting this committee under the jurisdiction of the prime minister or the National Security Council.

The Uri Party also decided to organize a special committee regarding this issue right away.

On the other hand, on the afternoon of the same day, lawmakers representing the GNP, including International Affairs Chief Park Jin, Spokesperson Im Tae-hee, and Park Chan-sook, delivered a letter to the Chinese Embassy urging their apology regarding the distortion of Goguryo history.

Hyong-gwon Pu Min-Hyuk Park bookum90@donga.com mhpark@donga.com