Changes in the Description of the Opening of Ports in the 19th Century in High School Korean History Textbooks from the 3rd to the 7th Curriculum Period in Korea

Beginning with the 3rd curriculum, Korean history was taught as an independent subject, with textbooks being nationalized and an emphasis placed on nationalism. The first article of the Korea-Japan Treaty of 1876, which declares that Korea is an independent nation, was described for the first time as containing the intention to cut off Chinese interference. And Japan’s aggressiveness was often exaggerated in various sections of the textbooks, which might have been due to the emphasis on nationalism.<br/> The 4th curriculum’s history education reflected the intrinsic development theory of 1960s and 1970s Korean history academia. With this reflected in the actual writing of textbooks, a separate section of “the embryo of modern society” was established before the modern age. Regarding the opening of ports, the concept of most-favored-nation treatment appeared for the first time, and some inaccurate contents in previous curricula textbooks were corrected.<br/> Field-based structures were emphasized in the 5th curriculum, with the fields such as economic or cultural history appearing in separate sections. As a result, contents on the opening of ports were distributed across in several parts. Also, the first article of the Korea-Japan Treaty of 1876 was described as an attempt to totally deny the Chinese suzerainty over Korea. However, this interpretation is inaccurate because China had acknowledged Korea’s independence in internal and foreign af fairs regardless of its vassal state status.<br/> The history education of the 6th curriculum emphasized the connection with world history. This perspective had been mentioned several times in the earlier curricula, but this was the first time it was fully reflected in the actual textbooks. Moreover, it is noteworthy that the term Swaeguk (鎖國; isolation policy), previously describing Daewongun’s policy, was changed to “policy of refusing trade and diplomatic relations.”<br/> In the 7th curriculum, high school Korean history took the form of a field-based description to avoid redundancy with middle school curriculum. However, the content related to the same subject was dispersed, making it difficult to learn in an integrated manner. The description of the opening of ports is very brief compared to the previous curricula due to the elective subject of modern and contemporary Korean history.