뉴스레터

References to Dokdo were contained in some of the government-approved Japanese textbooks for middle school in 2011 (four out of four geography, seven out of seven civics, and one out of seven history textbooks). Four years later, all the Japanese textbooks for middle school that passed the government's screening (four geography, six civics and eight history textbooks) contain references to Dokdo, according to the 2015 textbook screening results released by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). This is a reflection of the Japanese government's determination to teach the middle school students in their country about Dokdo as an issue of concern between Korea and Japan. The latest Japanese textbook screening results were reviewed and discussed at an emergency conference held by the NAHF on April 6, 2015.

Under the theme "Japan's Education on Dokdo and Korea's Response," the conference reviewed and analyzed the Japanese social studies textbooks and how they described sovereignty over Dokdo. After a review of how Dokdo was being taught in Korean schools, there was a discussion about how to cope with these Japanese textbooks.

All of the Eighteen Government-Approved Japanese Textbooks Contain References to Dokdo

MEXT determines the goals and content of each subject to be taught in elementary and secondary schools and set them forth in the Courses of Study, which provide a standard framework for organizing each school's curriculum. Dokdo began to be included as a topic to cover in a series of Courses of Study and their Teaching Guides: The Course of Study for Middle school released in March 2008; The Teaching Guides for the Courses of Study for Elementary and Middle Schools released in July 2008; The Course of Study for High School and its Teaching Guide released in March and December 2009, respectively. In March 2012, the Japanese high school textbooks that contained references to Dokdo passed the government's screening. In January 2014, MEXT revised the Teaching Guides for the Courses of Study for Middle and High Schools to beef up the content related to Dokdo.

In these Teaching Guides revised by MEXT in January 2014, it was specified that Dokdo was an inherent part of Japanese territory. And these Teaching Guides were the bases of the writing of the social studies textbooks for middle school that went through the most recent authorization process. All of these textbooks of Japan (geography, civics, and history) contain references to sovereignty over Dokdo, specifically "Dokdo is an inherent part of Japanese territory that is currently under the illegal occupation of Korea," The reason this provocative statement is included in these textbooks is that they were written according to the instructions set out by the Abe administration with the policy of emphasizing education on territory. In other words, MEXT as the controller of curriculum development and textbook approval is trying to teach Japanese middle school students a history that is not true. And this was the focus of the discussion at the conference.

Special attention was drawn to the fact that the Japanese government, not satisfied with the existing textbooks containing simple references to Dokdo, revised the Teaching Guides in 2014 to dictate specifically what should be written in the textbooks. Consequently, the Japanese social studies textbooks for middle school submitted for approval in 2015 contained much more Dokdo-related content than before, including how Dokdo was an inherent part of Japanese territory, how Dokdo was incorporated into the territory of Shimane Prefecture in 1905, how Dokdo went under the illegal occupation of Korea in 1954, and how this issue should be brought to the International Court of Justice for peaceful resolution. are some of the content that has been made to the social studies textbooks. These government-approved textbooks will be used in middle schools across Japan starting from 2016.

The purpose of teaching social studies including history is to inspire the students with national identity and universal values. But the Teaching Guides for the Course of Study and the social studies textbooks of Japan base Dokdo education on nationalism without any reflection on history. Unfounded facts of history, including unfounded facts about Dokdo, have been reproduced and spread by Japan for the purpose of dealing with political issues at home and abroad.

Japan Trying to Escalate Dokdo from Historical to Territorial Issues

The government-approved Japanese social studies textbooks for middle school reflect the all-out emphasis placed on nationalism in teaching about Dokdo. This means that Japan no longer treats Dokdo simply as a territorial issue but has taken one step further and started treating it as a historical one. In other words, the Japanese social studies textbooks are not about seeking a peaceful future in Northeast Asia; they have been reduced to the political tools of the Abe administration.

Here are a few pieces of logic that Japan uses to state its case about Dokdo. The first is that Japan has been aware of the existence of Dokdo since ancient times. The second is that the Japanese Shimane Prefecture's intention to posses Dokdo by incorporating it into its territory was reconfirmed in 1905. The third is that the Japanese government wrote a statement on the history of Japan's possession of Dokdo and why it thought this was supported by international law and submitted the statement to its Korean counterpart in 1953 in protest of the 'Syngman Rhee Line' that it claimed was an illegal demarcation in international waters. The fourth is that the Japanese government suggested to its Korean counterpart in 1954 and 1962 that the issue of Dokdo should be brought to the International Court of Justice. What Japan is trying to do based on the assumption that Dokdo is an inherent part of Japanese territory is to teach its middle school students that Japan's claims to Dokdo are valid under international law as well. In social studies education, Japan establish Dokdo as a region of dispute between Korea and Japan by carefully and deliberately combining the facts of history with the logic of international law.

The Japanese approach to teaching about Dokdo is visual in elementary schools and logical in secondary schools, with focus on modern and contemporary history. If Dokdo was covered and presented as a territorial issue in the Japanese middle school geography and civics textbooks in the past, it is likely to be covered in the history textbooks from now on as part of Japan's all-out education that places an emphasis on nationalism. That's why making a common textbook of the modern and contemporary history of the three Northeast Asian countries is important and needed. After all, historical conflicts have yet to be resolved in Northeast Asia, unlike in Europe.