뉴스레터

Korea-Japan
common textbooks made
through non-governmental efforts

Rising to the East Asia's challenge of overcoming conflicts over historical perception and territory, and the legacies of colonial rule and the Cold War, historians and civil-society organizations in Korea, China, and Japan have published common auxiliary history textbooks, such as The History That Opens the Future, through voluntary historical dialogue. Reports on the Korea-Japan and China-Japan Joint History Research Committees as government channels have been published, but President Park Geun-hye's proposal on November 14, 2013 to publish common textbooks on Northeast Asian history is highly significant in that she was the first among the heads of the three states to make such a proposal. In support of her proposal, the Foreign Ministry of China expressed their wish that "Japan will take a truthful and faithful attitude toward the related matters." And President of Peking University Wang Enge (王恩哥) said that "universities in Asia should take the initiative and consider writing the textbooks together (Chuson Ilbo, December 7). The Japanese government was initially negative about the proposal, but they changed their position just one day later, welcoming and recognizing the common textbooks as important contributors to building a peaceful East Asian community.

The publication of common textbooks on Northeast Asian history should begin with 'confirming historical facts together.' Only by properly understanding the facts regarding the over 2,000-year history of exchange and communication among Korea, China, and Japan can one sympathize with the history of the other countries. Given the sympathy, the perceptions can change, which, in turn, will make it possible to act and write common history books. To confirm the historical facts, let us examine how China is actually describing Korean history, especially in their history textbooks.

How China Actually Describes Korean History

Basically, the Chinese history books published recently highlight China's traditions and nationalism while stressing that China's institutions and culture have influenced its neighboring countries. For example, History and Chinese History (for 7th and 8th grades, 2009) by People's Education Press left out 'Gojoseon' and described Gija Joseon as the first nation in Korean history. These textbooks also ignored Koguryo, which had existed in the Abrok River areas, by indicating that Chinese territory during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (漢武帝, B.C. 141-B.C. 88) had extended down to the central Korean peninsula. Emperor Yang of Sui's unsuccessful expedition to Koguryo was deleted from the textbooks in 2009, and the description that Koguryo's music had been popular in town at that time was also deleted from the 2001 edition onward. Some of the descriptions in the textbooks suggested as if all of Silla's institutions had been modeled on Tang's, and the Silla Settlements in Tang had been established by Tang. Balhae was labeled as a local government of Tang, and Dae Jo-yeong was deleted in 2009. The descriptions of Yi Sun-sin and the Imjin War in China's foreign relations during the Ming Dynasty are very limited, which reflects the trend of decreasing descriptions of Korean history in Chinese textbooks. The descriptions of Joseon as 'Joseon of the Yi family' and as 'a subordinate state' of China are inappropriate. The description that China sent troops at Joseon(North Korea)'s request to help Joseon in rouble from the Imjin War to the Sino-Japanese War to the Korean War, and the description that ruled out the Independence Army's activities in Manchuria during the period of anti-Japanese movement and highlighted Kim Il-sung's activities instead are different from Korea's descriptions. The descriptions of the Second Sino-Japanese War are confined to the events that occurred in China, such as the Nanjing Massacre and Unit 731, and there are no descriptions of 'comfort women' for the Japanese military and other people conscripted to the war effort and the damage caused to the them.

The China-Japan Joint History Research Committee Report published on January 31, 2010 also includes quite a few errors in its descriptions of Korean history. For example, the Baekchon River Battle, the Imjin War, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Russo-Japanese War, events that involved Korea, are described as matters that concerned China and Japan only. A majority of descriptions in this report rule out Korea and highlight only the relationship between China and Japan. China is leaving out historical facts related to Korean history while describing anti-Japanese movement against Japan's aggression, and this could make the objective understanding of East Asian relations difficult. Particularly problematic is that China revealed it had the same view as Japan by describing Japan's influence on the ancient Korean peninsula as if it had been much larger than the historical facts may indicate. This report gave a self-centered description of relationship with the other, thereby giving history either a self-centered interpretation without properly considering the other's internal situations, or no interpretation at all. One of the ways to overcome the perception of Korean history based on the Sino-centric nationalistic view of history or the colonial view of history is to describe 'East Asia as a region,' and this is the direction that the common textbooks on Northeast Asian history should take.

For the Publication of Common Textbooks on Northeast Asian History

In response to our request for correction, the Chinese publisher People's Education Press changed the wrong picture of Yi Seong-gye, the founding monarch of the Joseon Dynasty, and replaced Hanseong (漢城) with 'Seoul' in the 2009 edition of World History. The publication of common textbooks on Northeast Asian history should begin with confirming such facts, and ultimately it should be about creating a 'collective memory of a community' in the form of common historical perceptions and descriptions. To this end, there are assets to utilize and challenges to address. First of all, we should refer to the non-governmental efforts made to publish common textbooks, the UNESCO's experience in promoting international textbooks, and the history of the international textbook dialogues in Europe, between Germany and France and between Germany and Poland, which have occurred consistently over a long period of time. The effort to publish a Germany-France common history textbook began in 1935, and the textbook was published in 2008. The effort to publish a Germany-Poland common history textbook began in 1972, and the textbook is expected to be published by 2015 through 2018. In East Asia, there will be more challenges due to the right-wing force of Japan, and continued research over a longer period of time will be needed. In 2012, Korea added 'East Asian History' to the high school curriculum. And the textbook written from the perspectives of peace and reconciliation should be used as a solution to overcome the colonial view of history and China's self-centered, nationalistic view of history, and as a tugboat for the publication of common textbooks on Northeast Asian history.

To make the publication of common textbooks on Northeast Asian history a reality requires: institutional strategies at government levels; various academic activities that will lead to reaching consensus; writing guidelines, and so on. This will require, for example, institutions and funds that can continue to provide consistent support for joint research and the compilation of textbooks, even if there are changes in government. There need to be more academic efforts to study and develop a history of cross-border cooperation in Northeast Asia. At the same time, joint research needs to be done to investigate how territorial issues have been resolved in the course of history, and related materials need to be accumulated. As for academic research, open-type joint research will be needed, where any scholars and NGOs from all over the world that are interested in East Asian history can participate. As for the writing methods, certain rules need to be set up in order to determine whether only the arguments that are agreed upon should be included in the textbooks, or other arguments should be also included, or several viewpoints should be allowed. In addition to the textbooks, education programs need to be developed, such as videos and other common auxiliary texts, exchange programs, and field trips to historic sites, which will allow young students to experience and learn for themselves. To this end, the academia, the political community, the media, and civil-society organizations need to join forces. Making common textbooks on Northeast Asian history is an important challenge that will have an impact on not only Korea, China, and Japan but also their neighboring countries, such as Taiwan, North Korea, Mongolia, Russia and other countries around the world. This is our duty to perform with patience for the establishment of peace in the future of Northeast Asia as a 'community of fate', beyond the challenges of overcoming historical conflicts and achieving regional cooperation.