"Full of Errors, Omissions, and Distortions"... Assemblyman Minho Shin Demands Complete Withdrawal of "Thousand-Year History of Jeolla Province"

Claim Raised During Five-Minute Speech at Plenary Session on the 17th
Emphasizes "It Must Be Rewritten from Scratch"

Minho Shin, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member (Democratic Party of Korea, Suncheon District 6), strongly called for the complete withdrawal of the jointly published "Thousand-Year History of Jeolla Province" by Jeonnam, Gwangju, and Jeonbuk during his five-minute speech at the plenary session on November 17, arguing that the publication was written with serious errors and bias.

Assemblyman Shin criticized, "Although 2.4 billion won was spent with the intention of establishing the identity of Jeolla Province, the publication has revealed fundamental flaws, from errors in ancient history to the overall inadequacy in the description of the modern independence movement," adding, "Jeonnam is virtually omitted from history."

Minho Shin, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member

Last year, during the administrative audit, he pointed out the omission of activities of independence activists from Jeonnam and requested the formation of a review committee, after which Jeonnam Province carried out a review process.

Regarding the results of the review, Assemblyman Shin stated, "It can be defined in three words: errors, omissions, and distortions," and added, "There was an overwhelming amount of content that needed correction, from spelling to factual accuracy. In particular, records of Jeonnam independence activists and regional activities were largely missing from the modern history section."

He continued, "The independence movement in the Americas was not mentioned at all. There were many cases where even facts that could be verified by simply referring to the National Veterans Affairs Agency’s records were omitted," pointing out, "If left as is, this could leave future generations with the mistaken belief that there was no independence movement in Jeonnam."

He also raised concerns about bias in the historical narrative. He said, "In the section on the May 18 Democratic Movement, the publication unnecessarily repeats that the figures are 'from Jeolla Province,' and gives the impression that Gwangju and Jeonnam are regions trapped in 'the shackles of regional conflict and ideology.'"

He further stated, "Representative pro-Japanese writers such as Seo Jeongju, Im Haksoo, and Kim Dongin are introduced only as figures who influenced regional literature, while their pro-Japanese activities are ignored. Even in the description of the May 18 Democratic Movement, Gwangju and Jeonnam are described as 'movements,' while Jeonbuk is referred to as 'resistance and democratization struggle,' which shows a lack of balance in the narrative."

Assemblyman Shin emphasized, "Today is the Day of Patriotic Martyrs. We must not leave a distorted account of the path taken by independence activists. The Thousand-Year History of Jeolla Province must be rewritten from scratch."

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