History Distortion Controversy: Will 'Gyeonggi Province Modern History' Education Be Terminated?

The 'Gyeonggi Province Modern History' lecture, which sparked controversy over historical distortion, is expected to be discontinued roughly 10 months after its textbook was published.

The Gyeonggi Human Resources Development Institute, a civil service training organization, has reportedly not included the 'Gyeonggi Province Modern History' course in next year's civil service training curriculum.

From October 2010 to December 20 of last year, the province commissioned the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation to undertake a project on 'Compilation and Utilization of Gyeonggi Province Modern History' with 46 million won in funding, and published a 350-page textbook divided into 'Republic of Korea' (204 pages) and 'Gyeonggi Province' (118 pages) sections in March of this year.

Seoul National University Professor Lee Young-hoon of the 'Textbook Forum,' a so-called 'New Right' scholars' organization, directly participated in the writing.

This followed requests from Governor Kim Moon-soo, who stated "there are many problems in our country's national history textbooks" and demanded "separate civil service training materials."

The textbook contained contents such as "the majority of citizens implicitly supported the May 16 coup," "the May 18 democratization forces rapidly transformed into anti-American forces," and "the April 3 Incident was an armed rebellion initiated by communist forces in Jeju Province," which provoked opposition from the May 18 Memorial Foundation and Jeju Province.

After reflecting feedback from Jeju Province and other parties, the province made partial revisions to the textbook and conducted four rounds of training in total this year on August 27, 28, and 29, among other dates.

According to reports, approximately 850 civil servants at grade 5 or below from the province and various cities and counties participated in the training led directly by Professor Lee, the author of the textbook.

A provincial official stated, "After publishing the textbook, everything was handed over to the Gyeonggi Human Resources Development Institute," adding, "the utilization of the textbook is a matter for the institute to determine."