Politics of Korean Language Textbooks in the Two Koreas

Dong Bae Lee is Associate Professor in Korean Studies and Co-Director of the Korean Studies Centre at the University of Queensland, Australia.

“Lee’s work offers new and exciting insights into Korean textbooks by comparing and contrasting Korean educational materials across diverse contexts. This volume will greatly enrich our understanding of educational policies, political ideologies, and identity formation in North Korea, South Korea, and Korean diasporic communities.”Andrew Jackson, Monash University, Australia. “This book offers a compelling and original account of how Korean and Korean-related textbooks shape nationalism, ideology, identity, and belonging across colonial, Cold War, diasporic, and contemporary contexts. Its comparative scope and critical analysis make it an important contribution to Korean studies, curriculum studies, and East Asian education scholarship worldwide.”Soojin Lee, Daegu National University of Education, Republic of Korea.

• 1. Introduction 2. Analysis of Korean language textbooks in the pre-colonial era 3. Analysis of textbooks of the colonial period 4. Analysis of the textbooks of the neo-colonial period 5. Textbooks under the dictatorships 6. Textbooks in the 21st century 7. Soviet neo-colonial influence in North Korean language textbooks 8. Textbooks in the era of Kim Jong Il (during the late 1990s and early 2000s) 9. Analysis of Chongryon Korean language textbooks used in Japan 10. Summary and conclusions