WEBZINE NORTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY FOUNDATION

Supporting Next-generation Scholars Armed with New Sources and Views With diplomatic issues piling up in Northeast Asia such as those related to THAAD and North Korean nuclear threats, national security is being pointed out as one of the most urgent matters South Korea's new administration needs to deal with. This is partly why a comment on South Korean history the United States President Trump made after his recent summit with China sparked controversy. This month's interview turns to Professor Kim Hyoung-Chong of Seoul National University, who has long studied the modern and contemporary history of China, for advice on South Korea-China relations and on the role the Northeast Asian History Foundation should play.

Kim Hyoung-Chong (Professor, Seoul National University)

A Revival of Modern Japan's Imperial Rescript on Education The Abe administration has lately been heavily censured from the opposition party for its involvement in the political scandal surrounding the shady sale of Osaka (大阪) government land to the private school operator Moritomo (森友) Gakuen. And the news report that a kindergarten run by Moritomo Gakuen, where the Prime Minister's wife Akie (昭惠) was to serve as honorary principal, makes its students recite the Imperial Rescript on Education, gave rise to controversies over how Japanese Diet members view the edict that begins with the following line: "Know ye, Our subjects: Our Imperial Ancestors have founded Our Empire on a basis broad and everlasting and have deeply and firmly implanted virtue." In response to a note demanding a ban on the use of an edict that once dictated the country's moral education during its imperialistic past, the Abe cabinet released a statement on March 31st, 2017 announcing that, although it would be "inappropriate" to use the Imperial Rescript on Education as "the sole basis for the nation's education," its use as teaching material "cannot be denied as long as it does not violate the Constitution and the Fundamental Law of Education." In other words, the administration is allowing schools in Japan to teach commandments from an age of modern imperialism that negates all values other than those the commandments impart and goes against the ideas of the nation's present constitution. The Imperial Rescript on Education is a document Emperor Meiji (明治) issued in 1890, the year following the Meiji Constitution's proclamation, to proclaim his will in terms of education. After losing the war, the Japanese Diet decided to nullify the rescript in 1948 for "being based on imperial sovereignty and a mythic view of polity" and for "undermining basic human rights." And after seventy or so years since then, it is now being resurrected and pulled back into the spotlight along with recent discussions of constitutional revision. As such, this article looks into the background, content, and implications of the Imperial Rescript on Education.

Seo Chong-chin (Director, NAHF Institute of Japanese Studies)

독도 교육주간 ‘찾아가는 독도전시회’ -일상에서 경험하는 아름다운 독도-

Public Exhibition for Dokdo Education Week - The Beauty of Dokdo in Everyday Life - With support from the Ministry of Education, the Northeast Asian History Foundation held an exhibition about Dokdo titled "The Beautiful Korean island Dokdo" at Yongsan train station in Seoul between the 17th and 23rd of April 2017. To call public attention to Japan's constant provocations involving Dokdo, the South Korean government designated a week in April as "Dokdo Education Week" and hosted various events for the occasion, one of which was the exhibition. Held for the second time after the first in 2016, the exhibition was to serve as an opportunity to demonstrate Korea's determination toward guarding Dokdo and accurately communicate that history, geography, and international law all support the fact that Dokdo is without doubt an inherent territory of Korea. The exhibition's opening ceremony was attended by the Vice Minister of Education Lee Young as well as NAHF President Kim Ho-sup and other staff at the Foundation. During the ceremony, President Kim Ho-sup stressed that "helping Koreans know more about Dokdo and thereby strengthening their affection for the island and their determination to protect it is the most effective way of responding to Japan's provocations over Dokdo."

Hong Myeon-ki (Director, Dokdo Museum Seoul)

Waegwan, a Space Forbidden to Women The waegwan at Choryang during late Joseon was the largest trading post at the time in East Asia. Its nearly 100,000-pyong grounds would usually accommodate around four to five hundred people from Japan's Tsushima prefecture (對馬藩) at any given time. With hundreds of Japanese coming into contact and forming relationships with Joseon people, major and minor unlawful acts were committed around the waegwan such as smuggling, assault, murder, theft, trespassing, and cross-national sexual encounters between Japanese men and Joseon women. Among such acts, cross-national sexual encounters were something the Joseon government particularly sought to control.

Youn You-sook (Research Fellow, NAHF Institute of Japanese Studies)

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