Korean "New Right" Textbook Positive About Japanese Colonial Rule

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: New S. Korean textbook lauds aspects of Japanese rule
A history textbook that speaks positively of the economic impact of Japan's occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45 has recently been published in South Korea. The new textbook covers modern and contemporary South Korean history, and was written by a group of authors known as the New Right, which includes a university professor. Recent South Korean history textbooks have tended to focus on the campaign of Koreans opposed to rule when explaining the period during which the Korean Peninsula was forcibly placed under Japanese control. However, the new textbook gives some credit to the Japanese occupiers, stating: "Japanese rule was not only a history of oppression and control. It was an era in which society's capacity to build a modern state was developed by learning [from Japan] and implementing this." In particular, the textbook highlights infrastructure such as railways and roads that were developed during Japanese rule. "[Japanese rule] activated the free market economy," the book says...On Tuesday, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper ran an editorial saying, "We are able to take the first step toward finding a balance in history education, which has been dominated by left-wing accounts." The textbook is now on sale at bookstores. However, it still needs to pass the next round of textbook authorizations, to be conducted by the South Korean government in 2010, before it can be used in schools...more...