Political disputes intensified over state-authored history textbooks on Friday as the main opposition party vowed an all-out fight against the government-led plan, threatening to boycott President Park Geun-hye’s budget speech.
In an apparent retaliation to Park’s rejection of the opposition’s demand to scrap the plan, the floor leader of New Politics Alliance for Democracy said he would think about how to deal with her speech at the parliament next week.
The party will also consider boycotting a proposed meeting with the Saenuri leadership to discuss pending bills at the National Assembly.
“It will be hard for us to hold talks (with Saenuri). We should not be left suffering (like this),” said Rep. Lee during a meeting with NPAD lawmakers.
The remarks came amid intensifying political and ideological standoff intensifying after a head-on collision between Park and Moon at a rare meeting at Cheong Wa Dae.
On Thursday afternoon, Moon urged her to scrap the plan but the president refused to do so, saying that it was aimed at ensuring the “correct” recognition of Korean history for future generations. She also expressed regret over the opposition leader’s allegations that her efforts had become increasingly politicized.
With NPAD vowing to resist her drive, the president is also expected to make a public appeal on the plan during her budget speech at the National Assembly next week.
Though the issue remains controversial, the opposition party is expected to face a bumpy road ahead with its resistance to Park’s drive as the legislature holds no power to stop the plan. The government can implement the plan by revising enforcement ordinances.
The opposition party has been adamantly opposing her drive to issue the state-designated history textbooks that could be used to whitewash pro-Japan activities during the colonial era and the military dictatorships decades ago. The Park administration, meanwhile, has been pushing for the plan, stressing the need to provide a balanced view of history through a single set of history books authored by government-designated writers.
Meanwhile, Lee Byung-ki, Park’s Chief of Staff, denied allegations that Cheong Wa Dae put pressure on the Education Ministry over history textbooks.
“I heard that there as a government-ruling party consultation meeting (on textbooks) but Cheong Wa Dae has never issued a guideline to the ministry,” Lee told lawmakers at a parliamentary audit session on Friday.
“I know it was the Education Ministry that made a final decision to publish state-authored textbooks after collecting the opinion of people from all walks of life.”
