뉴스레터

Han Chul-ho (Professor, Department of History Education at Dongguk University)

He graduated from Korea University and received Ph.D. from Hallym University. Korea has been devoted to the study of territory such as modern politics, diplomacy, reform movement and Dokdo. He has been interested in history education and has written middle school history textbooks and high school Korean history textbooks since 2001. He also served as chairman of the Korean Modern and Contemporary History Society. Since 2001, he has been a professor of history education at Dongguk University.

Japan has enacted Takeshima Day at the local government level, and the central government has set up the Cabinet Secretariat’s Office od Policy Planning and Coordination on territory and sovereignty to promote policies on territory and sovereignty. In particular, Japan has revised guidelines for elementary, middle, and high school learning to establish a framework for enforcing Dokdo education, and to strengthen support for education, publicity and research.

The Foundation met with a history educator and historian Han Chul-ho, who has tried to clarify the fiction of the Japanese government's claim that distorts history and heightens anti-Korean feelings, and to clarify the contents and historical facts of the Korean-Japanese ancient texts, and listened to the story of the differences in views and conflict structures between the two countries surrounding territorial education.

Q. You have been working closely on the 'Dokdo' displayed in Japanese textbooks and maps published in the 19th and 20th centuries. Is there any chance that you have been teaching history education at a college of education and have been particularly involved in territorial research including Dokdo?

A. The history of 100 years ago is very closely related to today: not just the past, but the starting point where all modern phenomena and contradictions are derived. As I majored in Korean modern and contemporary history until 1910, I became interested in the invasion of Dokdo because it showed the most invasive and colonial character of Japan.

Even today, is Dokdo the most important conflict factor in the relationship between Korea and Japan and the cause of the history war? As a scholar, I thought that we should discover hidden facts and identify the cause in order to reveal historical truths. And I tried to understand today through the history of 100 years ago, and I decided to devote myself to territorial research including Dokdo, judging that there would be an academic contribution.

Q. Is there any clear data to support Korea's territorial sovereignty over Dokdo?

A. The fact that Dokdo is the territory of the Republic of Korea can be confirmed through various historical documents. In 1693, Joseon and Japan began the so-called Ulleungdo Conflict(鬱陵島爭界), which is a struggle over the sovereignty of Ulleungdo. Joseon prepares tough measures and dispatches officials who regularly check Ulleungdo. The Record of Ulleungdo Mission (1694), written at this time, is an important official document that mentions Dokdo as our land along with a defense plan against Japan by a senior Ulleungdo official, Jang Han-sang, and it is a document that demonstrates the situation in which Joseon had jurisdiction over Ulleungdo and Dokdo at that time.

Based on the Tottori-beon answer(1695) from Ulleungdo Conflict, and the order of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which prohibited fishing in Ulleungdo(1696), Japan issued an order to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which ordered the top administrative agency of the Meiji era, Taejeonggwan, to 'remember that Ulleungdo and Dokdo have no relationship with Japan'(1877).

The Order of the Taejungkwan is still the official document in the Japanese National Archives, which Japan clearly and resolutely acknowledged that Dokdo is the territory of Joseon at the national level. But the important thing is that the official documents and websites that the Japanese government now claims to be ‘Takeshima is Japanese territory’ have never mentioned or disclosed decisively unfavorable feeds to Japan. When we think about the objectivity, the precision and the truth of history, their history is already distorted.

Q. Please explain why the Japanese government distorted history and claimed sovereignty over Dokdo.

A. Japan insists on "recreating the glory of the Meiji era", "making a country that can rebuild beautiful Japan and have pride", "overcoming the guilt of invading other countries and damaging them", "education to make the country proud through history education", "recreate great history and restore the history of Japanese being the center of active history". So Japan has created textbooks that distort history, and it is attacking that reflecting on colonial rule or invasion of other countries is shameful.

Japan is a country that knows the importance of maritime territory; not giving up Dokdo also means that it will take the hegemony of the Pacific and East Asian seas. The reason why Japanese voices are increasing in the Senkaku Islands(釣魚島) and Kuril Islands(Kuril'skie Ostrova) is also irrelevant. It is to block China and Russia's bridgeheads to the Pacific Ocean in advance, and to use their territory as the most important tool to overcome the masochistic view of history.

Q. The Japanese government is expressing its position on territorial and historical issues through textbooks; in the long run, it is also concerned about the impact on future generations.

A. On March 24, the Ministry of Education of Japan said, Most of 17 kinds of Japanese social studies textbooks(7 kinds of history textbooks, 6 kinds of civil textbooks, and 4 kinds of geography textbooks) that passed the certification process claimed sovereignty over Takeshima, and claimed that Japan's position was legitimate in historical and international law, saying that Korea illegally occupied Takeshima, the territory of Japan.

The reason why Japan's history distortion is a problem is that it justifies colonial rule over Korea and promotes conflicts by promoting territory such as Dokdo, in the tone that Japanese imperialism has helped modernize Korea. Japan is intervening in the distortion of textbooks by injecting incorrect historical awareness into the contents of history education. Despite the constant demand for correction by other countries, it is unacceptable for the Japanese government to step up and encourage and support historical distortions.

Injecting misperceptions based on a false history is an act of ignoring future generations and impeding peace and coexistence; perhaps the attitude of the Japanese government will not change much in the future. If this situation is repeated, it is likely to have a negative impact on the development of future-oriented relations between the two countries and continue to act as a result of conflict.

Q. Does Japanese history, education, and civic groups raise questions about the distortion of textbooks in their countries?

 A. Some people try to change their historical consciousness by distorting history textbooks, but there are many historians and intellectuals who criticize the past, saying that there is no reflection on past history such as militarism and colonial aggression. They are deeply in love with Japan. There are also textbooks that dealt with colonial rule over Korea, forced mobilization, and Sexual slavery victims for the Japanese imperial army. In the early 2000s, textbook writers from both Korea and Japan discussed the direction of writing and the method of testing, and jointly sought the right history and territorial education methods.

It is important to continue to exchange, cooperate, study, and lay the foundations for Korea-Japan relations at the private level. Japanese civil society, which is sensible and rational, says that this act is 'for the Japanese people'. It is important for those who pursue the truth to cooperate and share the right historical consciousness in order to overcome the difficulties of history distortion. I hope that we will continue to have academic and human exchanges with various civic groups as well as Japanese academia.

Q. We wonder if the ethnocentrism in Japan had an effect on this historical distortion problem.

A. The two countries are facing a crisis in relation to historical issues. If we teach that ‘the history of my country is excellent’ while we are advocating the world citizens, we will eventually go to nationalism. It is not bad to emphasize the excellence of my country, but without reflection on the past, historical reconciliation and progress are far away. But it's very difficult for historical perceptions and assessments of historical facts to match. It should be considered that history is a process of continuing past, present, and future. Be careful not to fall into ethnocentrism. Now is the time to go further from East Asia as a whole and to have a global view of history.

Q. Japan is strengthening its study and research, as well as education and publicity on territory and sovereignty. What do you think of the government's response?

A. On February 20, Japan reopened the National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty, which strengthened its propaganda over the sovereignty of Dokdo, and major ministers poured out the absurd saying that ‘Dokdo is Japanese territory’. The government of the Republic of Korea has clearly stated that it will respond firmly to any provocations against Dokdo, our own territory, which is historically, geographically and internationally clear. NAHF also responded strongly; NAHF expressed concern and stern protest against the Japanese government's desire and folly to provoke neighboring countries, making unfair claims and provocations against Dokdo.

Japan conceals or selectively uses the disadvantages of itself, even if it is history. However, the current website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan has published the Kaisei Nihon Yochi Rotei Zenzu, which is presented as the basis of Japanese inherent territory theory about Dokdo. This map was produced in 1778 with the permission of the Shogunate, and Ulleungdo and Dokdo are drawn outside the lines of longitude and latitude of Japan. It is a clear evidence that the Japanese Shogunate confirmed the Ulleungdo dispute of An Yong-bok and recognized Dokdo as the territory of Joseon, and it is the basis for refuting the claim that Dokdo is their own territory. Korea can maintain Effective Control over Dokdo and respond calmly to the direction of solidifying its value.

Q. How do you define history as a history educator?

A. History is not high-level and profound, but the most ordinary and simplest: history is the process of getting to know the truth. We need to develop the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood in the accumulated past, and the ability to judge right and wrong through historical imagination.

For this, proper history research and history education should be premised. Research is aimed at identifying historical truths, and education is to convey experience, knowledge, and wisdom to future generations. In that sense, education that delivers the results obtained based on the right research is as important as research. I think it is necessary to find educational methods and contact points that can achieve both.

Q. As you have written history textbooks for middle and high schools for a long time, We think you will feel the importance of history education. If you have a story that you want to tell to a new researcher, a student majoring in history education, please tell us. We also wonder about your calling as a person who studies history.

A. The object of history is always closer to the past than it is to the present. It is not just about knowing history exactly, but it is necessary to practice history so that history can be known without distortion. If you can not keep the truth of history as a human being, you can not secure the legitimacy of your remarks as a historical researcher. I hope that we will work together to clarify the historical truth with academic objectivity, sincerity and strictness.