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역사왜곡 (For Foreigners)
Lee Byung-do He served as first-class researcher and secretary to Ryu Shin Seok-ho Shin Seok-ho also was part of Chosen History Compila-
(1896-1989) Imanishi at the Chosen History Compilation Society, and (1904-1981) tion Committee and served as a researcher in the Com-
became the main author of the 35 volumes of Chosen-shi. missioned Investigators’ Department, which compiled bi-
Since the liberation of Korea, Lee Byung-do has been a ographies from early Joseon Dynasty. In 1945, the year of
giant in the field of Korean history and worked to continue Korea’s liberation, Shin, who was formerly Teratani Shujo,
the legacy of colonial history. He has had a profound im- founded the Kuksagwan, the predecessor of the National
pact on present historical academia. History Compilation Committee. In 1948, he helped to
In 1886, Japan issued the so-called Imperial University establish the National History Compilation Committee in
Ordinance, which renamed existing universities on the Korea. Shin Seok-ho served as the secretary general of the
mainland as imperial universities, and began establishing National History Compilation Committee.
new imperial universities. In total, Japan established seven People like Lee and Shin trained history teachers and
imperial universities, including Tokyo and Kyoto, as well produced professors who turned the history published by
as Keijo Imperial University on the Korean Peninsula in the colonial government into a national history textbook,
1924 and Taipei Imperial University on Taiwan. Keijo Im- which would be memorized by students beginning at the
perial University was founded in Korea, which was a colo- elementary school level.
ny at the time (1924). It would later become Seoul National South Korean historians who were critical of the colonial
University, the top university in South Korea. view either died in prison during the Japanese occupation
The day after the liberation on August 15, 1945, Kore- or were abducted after liberation, mostly during the Ko-
an graduates from the Imperial University, got together rean War. As a result, only Lee Byung-do and Shin Seok-
and said, “Let’s reorganize everything” I’m sure they had ho, both former researchers of the colonial Korean History
good intentions, because after liberation, it is true that ev- Compilation Committee, remained in South Korea and
ery academic field needed a fresh start. But there were a completely dominated the history academic community.
great many things that did not happen. When people got When collaborationists returned to power after Korea’s
together on August 16, the day after liberation, the per- liberation, Lee Byung-do and Shin Seok-ho used their ca-
son who was in charge of history and philosophy, unfor- reers in the colonial Korean History Compilation Com-
tunately, was Lee Byung-do. Lee Byung-do, a graduate of mittee as a springboard to dominate the history academic
Waseda University in Japan, distinguished himself in the community and promote Korean history from the colonial
field of Korean history and philosophy. He took control of era as the sole orthodoxy.
the history department at Seoul National University and
became the chairman of the National History Compilation
Committee in 1955 and the chairman of the Ministerial
Academy of Education in 1960. With these key positions,
he dominated the Korean historical academia.
74 2023년 12월•월간 대한사랑 75
