The analysis and meaning according to sight that strong man sees history can be various. After independence of Korea, there was a Korea War followed by confliction between leftism and rightism which caused the division of Korea into north and south. U...
The analysis and meaning according to sight that strong man sees history can be various. After independence of Korea, there was a Korea War followed by confliction between leftism and rightism which caused the division of Korea into north and south. Under the division of Korea, the historical science has undergone the branch system. The mid- seven century Baekje and Goguryeo fell and Shilla unified the area, south of Daidong river. Learned circles of the historical science of South and North Korea have different views to the event. The scholars in South Korea believe that Shilla unified three nations after driving our Tang through the war between Shilla and Tang so that, they call the period 'United Shilla', while the scholars in North Korea because Balhae inherit that inherit it since Goguryeo downfall call the period 'Balhae and the latter term Shilla'.
After the nineteen nineties, even though the learned circle of South Korea more aggressively name the period 'Southern- Northern nation's age' instead of 'united shilla', the both of them are used in a vague situation. However, the learned circle of North Korea closed to the perception of the theory of Southern- Northern nation's age focusing on the history of Balhae more than the history of Shilla which is based on the juche ideology. In Korea history, the perception of Shilla and Balhae is not just matter of history but, this is about the reverse function resulted from the fact that the division formation was internalized and became a ideology for preserving the formation.
For these reasons, I compare outline books of history and history text books of South and North Koreas, which shows an official opinion, for examining the understanding of unification of three nations by Shilla.
According to analysis of the historic perceptions of South and North Korea, South Korea tries to describe the balanced historical contribution of the both ruling class and the people. On the contrary, North Korea's historical description focuses on the people's struggle for semi-feudalism and foreign influence. This difference of description of the history textbooks is caused by the different purposes of history education.
Second, when the period is divided into there is a discrepancy looking at Southern- Northern nation's agein history. South Korea names the period 'United Silla' in 『National History』but, North Korea names it 'the late Silla' in 『Joseonryeoksa』which can be one of the examples that show unwelcome attention to unification of a nation. In addition that, 『National History』 describes United Silla earlier than Balhae in a position of the theory of Southern- Northern nation'sage and it shows the stream of times apparently but, 『Joseonryeoksa』describes Balhae earlier than United Silla in a position of Goguryeo.
Third, they have a difference in orthodoxy of inheritance of history. In case of South Korea, the order is that Gojoseon-Three nations(Goguryeo, Backjae, Silla)- Southern- Northern nations-Goryeo- Joseon. on the other hand, North Korea orders the sequence: Gojoseon-Goguryeo-Balhae-Goryeo-North Korea. There is a purpose for getting orthodoxyin history. In addition, unification of southern part of the Korean Peninsula by Silla is also understood in different ways. The meaning of the unification is spoken in high term as an opportunity for the promotion of national cultures and national reconciliation in 『National History』, while 『Joseonryeoksa』interprets that meaning as the fact that Shilla should not have done because it is anti-national. This negative interpretation of North Korea is based on both reduction of territory and use of foreign power.
There are some common interpretations in historical understanding of South and North Korea. One of them is that both South and North Korea emphasize that Koreans are one of the greatest people. According to South and North Korea, the Korean race not only has built excellent culture but also the race has fought against foreign invasions, which is especially emphasized. Secondly, both South and North Korea describe the change of economics, society, and culture in developmental aspect. In this case, North Korea has an understanding of the cultural development after unification of southern part of the Korean Peninsulaby Silla in common with South Korea.
Specially these common aspects in particular are expected to give basic data to make the same history book as well as they make a sacrifice of themselves for recovering ethnic identities.