Criticism of 'Historical Denial' Including Japan Beautification and Dokdo Deletion
"A Thorough Verification System for Publications Must Be Established"
Kim Yoon-duk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Jeonju Gap, Jeonbuk, strongly criticized the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, which published the book "100-Year General History (1948?2048)" containing historical denial, during the national audit held on the 18th targeting 21 institutions including the National Museum of Korea.
The "100-Year General History" published this year is publicly available to all citizens on the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History's website as a publication. The author of this book, which contains the New Right perspective that starts Korean history from 1948, was Kim Jin-hyun, former chairman of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History Establishment Committee and executive director of the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the Republic of Korea Commemoration Project Committee, which was mainly composed of New Right members.
Assemblyman Kim Yoon-duk strongly criticized the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, which published the book "100 Years of History" containing historical denial, during the National Assembly audit on the 18th. [Photo by Assemblyman Kim Yoon-duk's Office]
He pointed out that most of the maps inserted in the book omitted Dokdo and that Dokdo was erased even from the original text of George Friedman's "The Next 100 Years," which was cited.
Rep. Kim said, "This is part of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's 'Dokdo erasure' and could be a signal to hand over Dokdo to Japan," strongly reprimanding. He also revealed the historical denial content in the book, saying, "Japan played an important role as a transformer in Korea's unique rapid economic growth foundation," and "Syngman Rhee, the April 19 Revolution, and Park Chung-hee were essentially painful 'foundation-building periods' of a democratic society. They were not traitors to the nation. Such reevaluation is possible."
In particular, regarding the phrase "The May 18, 1980, was certainly an obstruction to strengthening the foundation of democracy and, as a result, was a reactionary and treasonous act harmful to the nation," Rep. Kim harshly criticized, saying, "The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, which produced popular historical educational materials in our country, described the May 18 Democratic Uprising as reactionary and treasonous, which goes beyond historical distortion?isn't that itself reactionary and treasonous?"
In the same book, the part describing the aftermath of former President Roh Moo-hyun's death as negative, stating that "President Park Geun-hye was impeached and President Moon Jae-in emerged," and that "it became the seed of the left-wing revival that does not hesitate to deny the Republic of Korea," Rep. Kim argued that it should be written as "The Republic of Korea is a proud country that judged the incompetent and corrupt Park Geun-hye administration through the Candlelight Revolution and gave birth to the Moon Jae-in government."
Meanwhile, Rep. Kim added, "Such books should never be published again. A censorship system for publications issued under the name of the History Museum must be established," and "The already published books should be revised, and if revision is not possible, all copies should be recalled."
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