The South Korean government announced that from 2017, all secondary schools must use textbooks issued by the state. This was a definitive decision made by the government after an ongoing debate since late 2013.

This has caused much controversy and uproar among opposition politicians, parents, students, and educators. In the current educational system, secondary schools choose a history textbook from one of eight publishing companies. However, the government argues that current history textbooks are too ideological and encourage anti-American and pro-North Korea feelings.

The government will appoint selected history teachers and academics to produce The Correct Textbook of History. Hwang Woo-yea, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, the one who proposed the idea, assures the public that the new textbooks will be “neutral.” He insists that the change was necessary because “students and their parents are discontented with the current textbooks.”

On October 28th, 372 Seoul National University professors along with 10 professors emeritus, gathered to compose a statement asking for a withdrawal of the decision. They sent their collective opinion on October 30th to the Department of Education.

The professors, fearing the government’s heavy influence in history textbooks, believed that matters of education and academics should not be swayed by realpolitik. They explained that their method of garnering as many signatures as possible was to reflect “the considerable concern for the importance of protecting academia and the mass impact the government’s decision will have on society.”

SNU’s symbolic move as a leader of higher education brings the arguments of the debate between academicians and politicians to the forefront. The realm of academia claims that the historians are neutral in their field of research, and the government voices skepticism about the historians’ professional attitude. Others point out that the state’s intervention is exactly what makes this ordeal political, when it does not have to be.

However, as of November 9, 2015, the government has come out with a final edition of the policy that reiterates their original decision and will put the new government-issued history text into effect in 2017.

Written by Ho Jung Annie HWANG, SNU English Editor, annieohan@snu.ac.kr
Reviewed by Eli Park Sorensen, SNU Professor of Liberal Studies, eps7257@snu.ac.kr