Historical Identity in North Korea’s History Textbooks: Description about Empires and Revolutionary Struggle(1905-1945)

Abstract

This study focuses on the descriptions of North Korean history textbooks about the Japanese colonial period(1905-1945) in the Korean Peninsula, and aims to analyze North Korean textbooks by utilizing four materials including the ‘Joseon Ryeoksa’(Joseon History) and ‘Hyeongmyeong Ryeoksa’(History of the Revolutionary) published under the Kim Jong-il regime and the ‘Ryeoksa’ (History) and ‘Hyeongmyeong Ryeoksa’(History of the Revolutionary) under the Kim Jong-un regime. This study also focuses on their descriptions about the empires and the revolutionary struggle, and examines differences and changes between the Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un regimes. Findings of this study are summarized as follows: North Korean history has been a history of ‘resistance,’ of struggle against the imperialism. Their values had been suppressed by the empires and their resistance was sublimated into a revolutionary struggle. Kim Il-song led their history and he was the only figure who could legitimize the North Korean history. The North Korean historical identity, which legitimates resistance history against the empires, was projected through its national, social, and cultural learning materials.