Controversy Over Dokdo Labeled as 'Disputed Territory'... Error-Filled Military Training Materials Revised

Ministry of National Defense Revises Basic Textbook After 7 Months
Dokdo Corrected from 'Territorial Dispute' to 'Korea's Inherent Territory'
Errors in GDP and Other Figures Also Corrected

The Ministry of National Defense has corrected the Dokdo issue in the basic textbook for soldiers' mental strength education. When the Ministry of National Defense distributed the textbook last December, it described Dokdo as a territory under dispute, which caused controversy. This time, it was revised to state, "Dokdo is the inherent territory of the Republic of Korea, and there can be no territorial dispute."

According to a government official on the 1st, the Ministry of National Defense's "Basic Textbook for Mental Strength Education" is revised every five years. The textbook distributed at the end of last year maintained the three major areas of national perspective, security perspective, and soldier's spirit, similar to the basic textbook during the Moon Jae-in administration, but the security perspective was changed to an adversary perspective, increasing the volume by several dozen pages.

When releasing the revised version, the Ministry of National Defense omitted the list of authors and reviewers, unlike before. A Ministry of National Defense official explained, "Those who wrote and reviewed the previous version did not participate," adding, "The entire Ministry participated, and we debated whether to include our names, but there was no regulation requiring the list to be included."

The previous textbook described Dokdo as follows: "Around the Korean Peninsula, major powers such as China, Russia, and Japan are sharply confronting each other," and "These countries project military power overseas for their own interests, and territorial disputes such as those over Diaoyu Dao (Japanese name: Senkaku Islands), the Kuril Islands, and Dokdo are ongoing, so military clashes could occur at any time." The Ministry of National Defense stated, "The part describing Dokdo as a 'territorial dispute' was deleted, and the government's position that 'Dokdo is the inherent territory of the Republic of Korea and there can be no territorial dispute,' along with our military's determination to protect it, was separately described."

This time, Dokdo was also marked on the Korean Peninsula map. Many Korean Peninsula maps in last year's textbook did not show Dokdo. The Korean Peninsula map appears 11 times in total, and from this textbook onward, the Ministry of National Defense based the markings on the "National Atlas of the Republic of Korea" published by the National Geographic Information Institute.

South Korea-Japan Relations: From 'Partnership Relationship' to 'Cooperative Relationship'

Regarding South Korea-Japan relations, the previous textbook explained, "We aim to develop a partnership relationship based on trust recovery with Japan, focusing on future cooperation that aligns with shared interests and values." However, the current textbook states, "While firmly and strictly responding to some political leaders' distorted historical perceptions and unjust territorial claims over Dokdo, we aim to develop a future-oriented cooperative relationship on joint security issues between South Korea and Japan for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia." Additionally, the part stating that Japan "seeks to become a normal military state" was replaced with content saying "the trilateral security cooperation among South Korea, the United States, and Japan is being strengthened." A Ministry of National Defense official explained, "The priority was placed on responding to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats."

The sentence stating that North Korea uses a Kim Il-sung praise song as its national anthem was deleted. Using the term "national anthem" would imply recognizing it as another country. The previous textbook stated, "North Korea's flag was produced and issued by the Soviet Union," but it was revised to, "North Korea's flag was produced under Kim Il-sung's directive and adopted as the national flag in 1948." Regarding the first president Syngman Rhee, who was described as "a leader who prevented the spread of communism with foresight and political determination," the evaluative term "foresight" was removed to avoid controversy.

Corrections of Errors in GDP, Economic Growth Rate, Pohang Steel Mill Completion Year, etc.

It was revealed that there were many other terminology and numerical errors in the previous textbook. The previous textbook listed South Korea's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ranking as 10th, but this was corrected to 13th. South Korea's economic growth rate in 2021 was revised upward from 4.1% to 4.5%. The general introduction of the Joseon Hydroelectric Survey, which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced in 2010, was removed due to unclear sources. Other historical inaccuracies were also corrected, such as the Sui Dynasty period and the completion year of the Pohang Steel Mill. The United States-Korea Military Commission (MC) was mistakenly written as the United States-Korea Military Commission Meeting, and the "South Korea-UN Command Member States Defense Ministers Meeting" held in 2023 was incorrectly listed as the "ASEAN Expanded Defense Ministers Meeting," both of which were corrected. It was confirmed that the number of times the ownership of the hill changed during the Battle of Baengma-goji was mistakenly recorded as 24 times instead of the correct 14 times.

New Additions to the Textbook Including Legal Effectiveness of the NLL

The Northern Limit Line (NLL) section was newly added. The textbook states, "Since its establishment in 1953, the NLL has clear legal effectiveness and is the 'de facto maritime boundary line' that our military has protected with blood for over 70 years."

Meanwhile, besides the previously pointed out issues, many other problems were identified, but there are criticisms that the disciplinary measures against the authors were too lenient considering the seriousness of the matter. The basic textbook for soldiers' mental strength education, which was criticized for describing Dokdo as a territory under dispute, was composed mainly of active-duty military personnel, and proper review of the final textbook was not conducted. Additionally, external feedback during the publication process was insufficient. Notably, the decisive factor was ignoring the objections regarding the inappropriate description of Dokdo.

The Ministry of National Defense announced the audit results related to the Dokdo description in the "Basic Textbook for Mental Strength Education" and issued warnings to two individuals, including an Army Major General who was the director in charge (Policy Planning Officer) at the time of publication, and gave cautionary measures to two civil servants, including the responsible section chief. The Ministry emphasized that there was no intentional wrongdoing and explained that the records remain in personnel files and could cause disadvantages.

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