President Park Geun-hye called for establishing a solid viewpoint of Korean history among the people on Thursday, saying it is essential to lay the groundwork for potential unification with Pyongyang.
She said having “a solid historical viewpoint and sense of pride in our country” is the first step toward unifying the two Koreas, which have been divided for more than six decades following the 1950-53 Korean War.
“Unification is difficult to achieve if these do not precede it,” she said.
Park made the comments while presiding over the sixth meeting of the presidential committee tasked with preparing for possible unification with North Korea. The Presidential Committee for Unification Preparation, headed by Park, was set up last year.
The meeting fell amid an intense row over the government’s plan to revise the current textbook publication system so that secondary school students can learn Korean history through national textbooks starting in the 2017 school year.
History textbooks for secondary schools are currently published by eight private publishing companies pending government approval, while primary schools have a single set of state-authored history textbooks.
The government has cited what it calls predominantly left-leaning content in the current books as reason for the change, while liberal historians, teachers and civic groups oppose the plan as a “challenge to democracy.”
Park also urged North Korea to come back to the dialogue for denuclearization, calling inter-Korean peace a basic precondition for reunification.
“True peace on the Korean Peninsula can only be achieved when the North Korean nuclear issue is solved.”
Resolving the humanitarian issue of North Koreans and building infrastructure in the North are also important for reunification, she said.
Park added that the government will encourage civilian groups to boost inter-Korean exchanges in such areas as culture, sports and history. (Yonhap)
