Experts call for Korea, Japan to co-write history textbooks

Two countries need to better understand each other’s differing views of history

The Korean and Japanese governments need to increase exchanges between the countries’ history researchers and textbook writers to improve understanding of differing views concerning history and ultimately co-write textbooks, experts on Korea-Japan relations said, Wednesday.

The Northeast Asian History Foundation (NAHF) held a seminar and presented an analysis of 12 Japanese elementary textbooks that the Japanese government approved on Tuesday.

Cho Youn-soo, a researcher specializing in Korea-Japan relations at NAHF, highlighted the need for government-led exchanges between researchers and textbook writers from the two nations.

“We need to compare and analyze the Korean and Japanese textbooks and understand what the similarities and differences are,” Cho said.

“The government emphasizes the role of future generations in Korea-Japan relations, but that doesn’t mean we can make a reconciliation of history by turning a blind eye to what actually happened. It will take time, but we need co-produced textbooks,” she said.

Cho took the example of a similar postwar initiative of France and Germany in the 1950s. The two neighboring European countries, which have differing historical views on Bismarck and Napoleon, for example, conducted field investigations together and co-produced history textbooks that balanced the differing historical views, Cho explained.

Korea and Japan launched a joint history research committee in 2001 after the Korea-Japan Summit and carried out joint research twice.

There were some non-governmental efforts for exchange, Han Hye-in, a research fellow at the Asia Peace and History Institute, told The Korea Times, agreeing with Cho on the need to narrow the ultimately

co-written textbooks.

Since 2021, her institute carried out biannual seminars with Japanese scholars and textbook writers whose names she refused to identify. She said the pressure from the Japanese right wing makes it difficult

for them to engage in free and dynamic exchanges.

“For Korea and Japan’s future cooperation, the two countries need to better understand each other. In that regard, textbooks play a crucial role,” NAHF researcher Nam Sanggu

said.

As for the newly authorized Japanese textbooks, NAHF researcher Park Han-min said they include various sovereignty claims to Dokdo. Similar to textbooks previously approved in 2017, they claim that the easternmost islet is “Japan’s indigenous territory,” which “Korea has unlawfully occupied for over 70 years.”

Wee Ka-ya, another NAHF researcher, said that the revised Japanese textbooks did not include the term “forced mobilization,” which could misleadingly mean Koreans voluntarily joined the labor force during Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of Korea.

Also, Wee explained that the revised textbooks distorted Korea’s role in disseminating advanced culture to Japan by changing the terminology “overseas immigrants” — a previously used term to refer to Korean ancestors — to “people from the continent,” which could be misunderstood as Chinese people.

Meanwhile, some changes positive to Korea were found as well, Wee said, as some specified the co-hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup as “strengthened friendship” between the two countries.

The two researchers emphasized the need to thoroughly examine what was added, changed or removed in the revised textbooks and why.