3rd joint Japan-Korea textbook tackles difficult issues

Posted on : 2007-02-27 16:24 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Latest edition touches upon sexual enslavement during WWII, murder of Empress Myeonseong

The third history textbook jointly authored by historians from Korea and Japan will be published simultaneously in both countries next month.

The book, titled "The History of the Korea-Japan Exchange from Ancient to Modern Times," is a product of work by 40 historians over a ten-year period. It follows the titles "History that Opens A Future," (2005) about modern history in Korea, China, and Japan, and "Korea-Japan History Looking Across at Each Other" (2006), about ancient history in both countries.

What is especially notable about this latest joint history writing project is that it deals with Japan's colonial rule of Korea, usually a sensitive issue. It discusses Japanese aggression and how Koreans suffered as a result. It speaks in particular about the murder of Empress Myeonseong at Gyeongbok Palace in 1895 by Japanese assassins, as well as the sexual enslavement of Korean women by the Japanese military during World War II.

Other sensitive issues, such as the Dokdo Islets - which Japan claim under the name Takeshima - and what to call the sea between Korea and Japan, are not discussed in the book.

"We relied on historically verified documentation and wrote from an objective point of view," said the University of Seoul's Jeong Jae-jeong, who was one of the Korean authors.

The series of "joint history" textbooks was begun in 1997 by Jeong and Kazuhiko Kimishima, a professor at Tokyo Gakugei University. The group of historians they assembled decided against delegating sections of the book to be authored simultaneously, and instead held a series of 20 symposiums during which participants sought to find common ground in the interpretation of history. All translation work was shared among the group as well, so as to keep the Korean and Japanese editions consistent with each other and with the views of the books' authors.

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