"Seol Min-seok Thought It Was a Problem"… 'Bare World History' Faces Another Historical Distortion Controversy

"Content and Structure Are Lacking... Was the Goal to Evoke Vague Fear?"

Photo by tvN, captured from the website of 'Beolgeoneotneun Segyesa' (Naked History).

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] The tvN program "Naked History of the World," which faced controversy for inaccuracies in historical facts, is once again embroiled in a historical distortion issue, sparking an uproar. Previously, history instructor Seol Min-seok was criticized for misrepresenting facts while explaining Cleopatra, leading to accusations of historical distortion.

Professor Park Heung-sik of Seoul National University's Department of Western History criticized the program on his Facebook on the 31st of last month, saying, "I watched the program because it was going to cover the Black Death. Having studied the Black Death for over ten years and specializing in late medieval Europe, I felt this was really unacceptable."

Professor Park stated, "The program showed almost no understanding of medieval society and the doctor presenting it could not interpret the historical sources of the time, only fostering distorted perceptions among listeners. Both the content and structure were poor. Was the goal to evoke vague fear about the Black Death?"

He continued, "Recent interpretations were not reflected at all from statistical or pathogenic perspectives. The materials on the Siege of Caffa were not recorded by someone present at the scene and cannot be trusted, yet they were interpreted as historical facts, reinforcing the mistaken belief that all the bad things came from Asia," delivering harsh criticism.

He also questioned, "What about the prejudice against the Middle Ages embedded throughout the lecture? Did the Renaissance, which was a hope in overcoming the Black Death, really start then? Although these events happened simultaneously, if anything, the Black Death occurred after the Renaissance began," he pointed out.

Professor Park added, "If I were to point out specifics, it would be endless and not worth the effort. I thought Seol Min-seok was the problem, but it seems almost everything constituting this program is problematic. With all due respect, if you are going to deliver historical topics so carelessly, the program should be immediately canceled," raising his voice.

He sarcastically remarked, "Or at least remove the word 'World History' from the program title to prevent misunderstandings that it is a history-focused broadcast. It would be better to just turn it into enjoyable entertainment."

This is not the first time the program has faced controversy over historical distortion. Archaeology expert Kwak Min-su, director of the Korean Institute of Egyptology, criticized the Cleopatra episode of "Naked History of the World," saying, "There are so many factual errors that it is difficult to mention them one by one."

He emphasized that many stories introduced in the program, including the background locations of Cleopatra's era, information related to the Library of Alexandria, and the anecdote about "Veni, Vidi, Vici," differ from the facts.

In response to the controversy, tvN stated at the time, "We sincerely apologize for some errors that occurred during the process of searching through vast ancient historical materials."

They added, "Due to time constraints, the program was edited in a compressed manner, proceeding according to the broad context of historical parts. Although some parts were omitted, we judged that it did not significantly affect the coherence of the context and thus aired the final product. We sincerely apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable."

tvN also promised, "To prevent recurrence, we will expand the advisory panel and humbly accept opinions from experts in various fields. In future reruns, we will reinforce some subtitles and computer graphics to avoid confusion in understanding."

Afterward, the program, which was rebroadcast about a month later, changed its format to invite experts from relevant fields as lecturers for each episode's topic.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.