Controversy over museum’s skewed presentation of Korean history

Posted on : 2013-06-03 11:13 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Scholars say contemporary history museum has factual errors and overstates the role of big business in Korean development
 Dec. 26
Dec. 26

By Ahn Seon-hee, staff reporter

Scholars at a recent debate spoke out against the National Museum Of Korean Contemporary History (NMKCH), which they said has a number of inaccuracies in its exhibits and could cause problems with social unity due to its conservative bias.

The speakers at the debate called for a name change and a reconsideration of the operational authority and its methods for the museum, whose opening late last year was plagued by controversy.

The debate, titled “What’s the Problem with NMKCH?” was held on May 31 at the National Assembly Member’s Hall in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood by Solidarity for National Historical Justice.

One of the speakers, Yonsei University history professor Kim Seong-bo, said the museum’s 2012 construction represented a “grand coalition of historical perceptions between the New Right and Old Right.”

“The ideas of history presented at the museum put the state ahead of its people,” Kim said. “It’s an awkward mixture of a New Right perspective that views the country solely in terms of the development of a free market economy and liberal democracy, and an Old Right perspective that emphasizes the legitimacy of the Korean Empire and colonial exploitation.”

“The result is that its historical narrative regresses to the level of conservative history textbooks used during the Roh Tae-woo and Kim Young-sam presidencies, before the first non-conservative administration was elected,” Kim added.

Kim took issue with the museum’s portrayal of the Constitution’s enactment as being aimed at “recognizing private property rights and achieving a market economy.”

“It’s displayed as though [the Constitution] only had these liberal democracy and capitalist elements, while deliberately leaving out the parts where it calls for peace and unity, social reforms such as agricultural land reforms and addressing Japanese collaboration, and its aim to create an equal economy,” he said.

He also noted that 17 of the 20 illustrations listed in an exhibition on technological development were for products by Samsung, without any from small or medium enterprises. “They’re sending the message that big business is what’s driving the development of South Korean advanced technology, that they represent the future of South Korea,” Kim said.

Kim said the museum was “detrimental to social unity.”

“In its items and their composition, it fails to reflect any of the introspection we’ve done, any of the advancements we’ve made in social democracy, our internal diversity,” he said.

Kim recommended that the museum be renamed “the National Museum of the Korean People’s Contemporary History,” with management by an independent operational authority composed of scholars, museum experts, and educators.

Another scholar decried what he said was an error-ridden presentation of historical facts.

Lee Gi-hun, a professor of history at Mokpo National University, said the museum’s first exhibition hall explains that the 1876 Treaty of Ganghwa between Korea and Japan was an unequal agreement by which Joseon accepted conventional tariffs.

But according to Lee, the treaty contained no provisions on conventional tariffs.

Other errors he noted included the display of a flag, believed to be the souvenir of one US soldier, as being the banner of the country’s 6th Infantry Division, and Choe Nam-seon’s “Sonyeon (Youth),” the country’s first modern “general interest magazine,” as being its first modern magazine.

“The most urgent order of business is soliciting expert advice on the exhibits’ names, explanations, and English spellings to correct any errors in the galleries and pamphlets,” Lee said.

“There also needs to be a fundamental examination of just what the aim of a history museum is and whether it can continue on as it is currently composed,” he added.

In 2008, then-President Lee Myung-bak announced plans to build a museum exhibiting South Korea’s modern history during his celebratory address for Independence Day. But its opening in December 2012, just four years later, was plagued by criticisms of having been rushed and carrying a political bias.

 

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