S. Korea unveils controversial history textbooks

SEOUL: South Korea’s government yesterday unveiled the final version of state-issued school history textbooks despite criticism that they are a throwback to the country’s authoritarian past.

The education ministry published middle and high school history textbooks even as parliament is moving to ban their use.

Legislators say they glorify the dictatorship of Park Chung-Hee, late father of impeached President Park Geun-Hye.

Park Chung-Hee ruled the country for 18 years until his assassination in 1979.

“We need to establish a historical perception that will encourage positive views about our own history,” vice education minister Lee Young said at the announcement.

But critics argue the new textbooks exaggerate Park Chung-Hee’s role in industrialising the country, while glossing over his human rights abuses.

“As a result of government efforts to boost exports, export volume jumped 40% every year,” an online copy of the new high school textbook said about the Park era.

History remains a bitter ideological battleground in South Korea, which achieved democracy only in 1987.

Conservative critics argue that current texts are too left-leaning and warp students’ minds with allegedly leftist-leaning ideological bias.

They say the existing books belittle achievements under the South’s former authoritarian rulers, including the country’s rapid industrialisation after the Korean War, while barely touching on the North’s human rights abuses.

The government initially planned to impose the state-authored history textbooks this year for exclusive use.

But in the face of waves of protests from historians, teachers and other critics, it announced in December that it would let schools choose between them and approved texts from commercial publishers. – AFP