Inaccurate Information about Korea Found in Indian Textbook

It has been confirmed on August 18 that India has described the East Sea as the Sea of Japan and Korea’s per capita income to be $2,000 in its history textbooks.

In the section devoted to Korean history in its history textbooks designed for 12th graders, India refers to the East Sea as the Sea of Japan while saying that Korea’s per capita income, which stood at $500 at the end of 1950s, has just barely reached $2,000.

This government-authorized text that mentions of Korean history after the Korean War introduces Korea as a country that “started out with nothing but succeeded in promoting fast economic growth with the help of prudent and flexible government planning, creative utilization of foreign capital, and active private businesses.”

However, it goes on to write that as the distribution of wealth could not follow the rate of growth, some privileged classes monopolized all the benefits of growth-promoting policies because the Korean government does not approve of labor unions or strikes.

India’s textbook is the one and only history textbook approved by the government, which is published by its National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

Professor Sandip Mishra in the East Asian Studies Department at the University of Delhi said, “The textbook that is currently in use was put together during the last administration when the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power, and a new edition will take three to four years to be printed,” and added, “The errors in the parts about Korean history need to be officially addressed in order to have them corrected.”