The necessity of exchange and cooperation is growing in various fields between Korean and Japan or among East Asian countries. One of the obstacles to this cooperation, however, is the disputes and confrontation about history. Therefore, there is no g...
The necessity of exchange and cooperation is growing in various fields between Korean and Japan or among East Asian countries. One of the obstacles to this cooperation, however, is the disputes and confrontation about history. Therefore, there is no guarantee of true peace and cooperation in East Asia without overcoming the historical issues. History education may differ between countries according to their educational systems, but has played the central role of cultivating the people. Consequently, history education has increased the disputes. On the contrary, if history education can contribute to settlement of the disputes, it will form the basis of historical reconciliation.
In this respect, this research was done in the following two ways:
Firstly, the meaning and the necessity of historical reconciliation were defined, and the strategies to achieve this goal was established. Secondly, the effort for historical reconciliation was made through exchange of history education, development of a joint compiled history textbook, and teaching on history.
The processes and the features of exchange of history education were examined in order for searching of progressive and meaningful exchange through sharing of experience acquired from past exchange cases. The development of a joint compiled history textbook should be reviewed focusing on not only the meaning of its publication, but also the fact that the difference of recognition had been overcome in the course of development. This study also sought the way to apply the results of the exchange and the publication of the joint compiled textbook to the field of history education. The development and practice of the teaching model proposed in this study are experimental. The classes developed based on this model will help the students acquiring a historical consciousness and building up a bright future.
Historical reconciliation does not simply mean a cleaning-off of the past, but also guaranteeing of the future. The foundation of overcoming historical distributes, which are mostly associated with political purposes, is the global citizens who value human rights and peace. In order to form this foundation, governments, societies (citizens) and students (teachers) have to do their best at their own levels for reconciliation.
Exchange of history education for reconciliation between Korea and Japan was first discussed between the two countries under the lead of UNESCO when the nations' diplomatic relations were restored, but was failed due to the situations of Japan. By 1990s, exchange between two countries were performed centering on the experts. Exchange in this period focused on Korea's criticism on Japanese history textbooks. In 2000s, exchange of citizens and students of the two countries became lively. Exchange of citizens and students has grown in both width and depth despite the newly raised issues, such as Japans's distortion of textbook, Japanese lawmakers' visiting of Yaskuni shrine, and Japan's declaring sovereignty over Dokdo.
Developing a joint compiled history textbook is an active way to overcome the historical disputes following the textbook talk in Europe. Textbooks were developed with different time, format and content, maintaining complementary relations between each other. They were published despite many disputes in the course of development, and have had many readers. Readability and consideration for the readers, however, remain to be improved.
History class for reconciliation is the final destination of historical reconciliation and the purpose itself. It is also a way of overcoming the wasteful war on history. If history classes lay stress on own standpoint of the nation's history, reconciliation will never come true. The methodologies introduced to develop the history class for reconciliation include multi-dimensional research, reading history based on metadiscourse, and researching and discussing based on H.G. Gadamer's hermeneutic dialogue. Students' historical consciousness was formed by education and media to strongly represent the standpoint of their own countries. History classes have helped the students to aware that they should understand others and to find the solutions.
In this class, two points needs to be highlighted in the aspect of history education. One is that it cultivates the spirit of tolerance and compromise for reconciliation. Political compromise between countries plays an critical role in solving historical disputes. Under a dispute, insisting one's standpoint does not work for reconciliation. It is because a reconciliation cannot be achieved without tolerance and compromise. The other point to be highlighted is that the class extends the students' historical thinking power. Students can understand the meaning of history in the course that they are investigating the history of their counterpart, questions on hidden historical facts, uncertainty and ambiguity. Students get to understand that stories and images on the past or disputes are depending on who gives the information, through which it is delivered, and under which circumstance and in which position the receiver receives the information. By this point, students become historians, and 'do' history.
It is not easy to transfer directly from dispute to reconciliation. It is the history class that links between dispute and reconciliation, and performs the function of communication. What is needed in East Asia under the historical disputes is to raise self-controlled and well-balanced people who are ready to live together with others. To help students of both countries to communicate with each other on 'history' is one of the important functions of the joint compiled history textbook. It is also important to find the way to implement this function in the history class. If the joint compiled history textbook can extend depth and width of communication, it can be said to have contributed, to some degree, to historical reconciliation in East Asia. Historical reconciliation exists not only between Korea and Japan but also in Korean history. Therefore, the class for reconciliation may be also applied to the past affairs problems of Korea.
Democratization process in East Asia has demonstrated that from-bottom-to-top efforts have the potential to realize reconciliation. History education in school and for citizens using the joint compiled history textbook is a part of such efforts. Reconciliation is not a concession, but a positive effort to achieve piece based on the self-respect as global citizens.
Keywords: Historical reconciliation, Historical disputes, Exchange, Joint compiled history textbook, Hermeneutics