S. Korean textbooks reflect changes in NK leadership

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and the ascension of his youngest son Kim Jong Un will appear in South Korean textbooks for middle and high school students from the first semester of this year, the Education Ministry in Seoul said Tuesday.

The ministry said it asked publishers of history textbooks to supplement or amend sections on North Korea in the wake of Pyongyang`s announcement of Kim Jong Il’s death in December last year. Therefore, 11 kinds of history textbooks will be revised to include his death and describe him as a figure of the past.

Kim Jong Un will also be added to the textbooks as the Stalinist country’s successor. Vol. II of the textbook Middle School History published by Mirae N says, “After the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011, Kim Jong Un, who had been appointed heir apparent, took power to complete the third-generation hereditary power transfer.”

A high school history textbook by Visang Edu uses the past tense to describe Kim Jong Il instead of the present progressive tense. For example, the sentences saying he is “maintaining a dictatorship” and “is ruling” were replaced with “maintained” and “ruled.”