일본의 한국사 왜곡 = Japan’s Distortion of Korean History

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

" Many unsolved issues exist between Korea and Japan to date. One of the most controversial pending issues is Japan’s history textbook containing distorted facts about its past and about Korea. In retrospect, the first history textbook issue took place in 1982, more than 20 years ago. The issue remained controversial, even when the Japanese government revised it several times. When the current textbook issue is compared with that of 20 years ago, the current one demonstrates a higher degree of problem. Japan’s middle school history textbook, which is at issue now, was produced under the auspices of an infamous right wing group of Japan and it is based on the war-time historical perspective of imperial Japan. Such a textbook signals an alarm for the historians of Korea. The textbook verification and adoption system of Japan is quite different from that of Korea. Compared to Japan, the Korean system is very lax. In Korea, scholars review, for example, 10 textbooks and grade them. They then approve and adopt top five textbooks based on the rating. But Japan’s system is much more rigorous. Inspectors or scholars scrutinize textbooks word by word and ask for constant revisions. If those who wrote the textbooks or the publishers do not respond to the inspectors’ requests, the textbook will not be approved. Here, the problem is that almost all Japanese inspectors or scholars reviewing textbooks are right wing. The Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture, which has already been very conservative, is now under full control of the right wing scholars. As publishers and writers are opposed to the ministry measure to revise their history textbooks, right wing scholars formed a special group under the name of group for making new history textbooks [English Translation]. This is the very group that caused controversies this time. Actually, it is not the first time that such a group was formed: In 1986, a group called national council to defend Japan [English Translation] was formed and published the Newly-edited Japanese History. This textbook failed as history teachers nationwide resisted it and only 30 high schools adopted it. But the history textbook this time is even more rightist, better funded and being greatly publicized by the rightist group. This group said it will mobilize every resource so that all junior high schools nationwide can adopt the textbook. It is threatening local governments and councils that are responsible for adopting textbooks in their area, to use its textbook. It even said it would attack the local councils with an armored vehicle, if they do not listen to it. Indeed, it is a military coup to distort history education. How should we, Koreans, cope with the issue then? First, the Korean government should never repeat its mistake in 1982. If it equivocates on the issue as it did in 1982, then it would only help the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, the wirepuller in the distortion of historical facts. Also, doing so would only weaken the conscientious force that supports the Korean government. Second, Japan today is divided over the history textbook issue. Former Japanese Prime Minister Yonshida once said, Now Japan’s public opinion is divided over the historical issue. We are at risk of being demarcated by a line. If, the conscientious force of Japan is defeated, then the country will relapse into its belligerent past. It will come back to the country of warring Samurais. We should keep an eye on Japan. Observing and watching it, however, will not suffice. We should be proactive. Japan has studied the issue since 1982. But Korea, as shown in the Tokoto case in which Korea is in territorial dispute with Japan, has only acted belatedly without any advanced study or measures. If these kind of lax measures continue, not only Japan but also other countries will jeer at us. What is the most important thing for us is to prepare a lot so that no one can play

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 일본에 역사교육 쿠데타가 일어나고 있다
• Ⅱ. 요번 쿠데타는 한국을 겨냥한 것이다
• Ⅲ. 니시오 간지의 괴변을 들어 보자
• Ⅳ. 「새로운 역사교과서 모임」은 역사 테러단이다
• Ⅴ. 맺은 말
• [Abstract]