Numerous Errors Found in Jeonnam's Own Verification
"Insufficient to Reflect Jeonnam's Identity, Must Be Rewritten"
A claim has been raised in the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly that parts of the "Thousand-Year History of Jeolla" (Jeollado Cheonnyeonsa), which has been at the center of historical distortion controversies, should be discarded.
Minho Shin, a member of the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly (Democratic Party, Suncheon 6), argued during the Culture Promotion Bureau's work report on July 15 that the four volumes on modern history in the "Thousand-Year History of Jeolla" should be completely discarded and newly rewritten.
Previously, in November of last year, Shin also claimed that the modern history section of the "Thousand-Year History of Jeolla" should be discarded, pointing out that it omitted the activities of independence activists from Jeonnam who were active in the United States, Japan, China, and other regions.
In the recent work report, Shin revealed the results of a verification team separately formed by Jeolla, stating that not only were numerous factual errors and typos found throughout the books, but also that the remarkable achievements of independence activists from Jeonnam were largely omitted.
In particular, he emphasized that even an analysis of individuals from Jeonnam listed in the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs' official records shows that the "Thousand-Year History of Jeolla" failed to capture the identity of the Jeonnam region by omitting the stories of independence activism by Jeonnam natives in Korea, the United States, Japan, and even Harbin. He stressed that the four modern history volumes must be discarded and rewritten.
Due to Shin's raising of the issue, Jeonnam Province formed a separate verification team to review the content of all historical periods from ancient times to the present, and it is reported that a significant number of errors were found.
In response, a Jeonnam Province official stated that, based on the verification materials, errors will be corrected, and since the controversy over the four modern history volumes is an important issue related to Jeonnam's identity, it is only reasonable that they be newly rewritten.
Meanwhile, the "Thousand-Year History of Jeolla" is an extensive 34-volume historical work compiled from 2018 to 2022 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Jeolla's official naming, with Gwangju, Jeonnam, and Jeonbuk each contributing 800 million won, for a total budget of 2.4 billion won.
However, due to controversies such as the citation of materials from the Nihon Shoki, distribution has been suspended. Recently, Jeonbuk Province and Gwangju Metropolitan City, unlike Jeonnam Province, have pushed for the "pre-distribution" of all sections except the ancient history volumes, leading to further controversy.
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