S KOREA:THE SOUTH Korean government has sparked a furious row by announcing that it will "straighten the facts" in school textbooks, sparking accusations that it is trying to whitewash the history of the country's military dictatorship.
Korea's Ministry of Education, which regulates textbook content, has asked its textbook committee to change dozens of passages, following complaints from conservatives and business groups that they are "left leaning."
Among the requested revisions are references to the infamous 1948 Jeju Uprising, which was suppressed by Korean soldiers under US command, killing tens of thousands.
Seoul's powerful Defence Ministry wants that changed to the "Jeju Riot."
According to the Korea Times, a section describing the dictatorship of Syngman Rhee as having "abused the separation of Korea to maintain his dictatorship" will be changed to "has done its best to resist communism intruding into"South Korea.
A spokesman for the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, accused the government of trying to "beautify" the past. "The textbook revision is an attempt to cover up their past misdeeds and brainwash the next generation with wrong information," says Choi Jae-sung.
The Korean Peninsula was divided by the 1950-53 civil war into the communist North and US-backed South. Seoul was ruled by a succession of strongmen, including Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, until pro-democracy demonstrations toppled Chun in 1987.
New president Lee Lee Myung Bak has signalled a return to conservative values after a decade of liberal rule by Roh Moo Hyun and his predecessor, Kim Dae Jung. Mr Lee took office in February, promising a tougher line on the North and other issues.
The new textbooks will reportedly "re-evaluate" the governments of Mr Park and Mr Chun to highlight their economic successes, and shift the emphasis in textbooks from criticism of the South to pride in its achievements.
The word "authoritarian" will be injected into descriptions of the North Korean regime, a move Democrats warn will anger Pyongyang and turn back the clock on relations between the two states.
One newspaper accused the conservative Lee administration of trying to "contaminate the textbooks with their own political ideology", but many Koreans view the revisions as necessary, says Lee Shin-wha, professor of international relations at Korea University.
"Over the past 10 years, Park Chung-hee has been criticised as a dictator, but without him I don't think we would have had the miracle economy.
"We shouldn't beautify him but we shouldn't miss what he achieved either. This is a backlash against left-leaning textbooks."
President Park, who came to power in a coup in 1961 and was assassinated in 1979, is credited with helping the South develop from an Asian backwater into one of the world's richest industrial nations. But his autocratic rule has been bitterly criticised.
Prof Lee says the textbook issue is symbolic of the how Koreans still cannot agree on their past.
"It is so sad that we are supposed to be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the state that some even disagree on that date. Without agreement, we can't move into the future."
