역사교과서 국정화의 헌법적 의미

I think the policy for the standardization of history textbooks in South Korea, which is persistently being imposed by the South Korean government, is unconstitutional because it breaches the principles of the Korean Constitution and violates fundamental constitutional rights. Specifically, the policy is detrimental to the diversity of liberal democracy, is against the Codification of the Education System, and violates the Principle of the Prohibition of the Unlawfully Broad Delegation of Legislative Powers. In addition, the policy not only goes against the pedagogical autonomy, professionalism and political neutrality of education, but also conflicts with fundamental rights such as freedom of conscience, academic freedom, freedom of expression (the right to know), and the right to learn. Thus, I think it is appropriate for the policy to be completely withdrawn and abolished since it is considerably unconstitutional as reviewed. In addition to the academic conclusion of this research, a lot of Korean people also have expressed a deep concern and strong opposition to the governmental policy for the standardization of Korean history textbooks. The South Korean Ministry of Education announced a plan to use the government-made textbook in conjunction with government-approved textbooks in schools on December 27th of last year as a result of public pressure. However, through the operation of research schools for the use of the government-made textbook and tighter screening standards for government-approved textbooks, the Ministry is making it clear that it will not abandon the policy in any manner. Edward Hallet Carr, who is a renowned historian and a political scientist from England, has remarked that “it is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past.” in his book entitled “What Is History?” It means that history has the open possibility to be interpreted differently according to the viewpoint of the historian and that the interpretation has its own value as long as it is persuasive. The Constitutional Court of South Korea, fully recognizing the nature of history and courses pertaining to the subject, has also stated that it is desirable to introduce diverse academic opinions, various viewpoints and angles in Korean history textbooks. Fully considering the characteristics of history as a subject, we can clearly see that the policy for standardizing Korean history textbooks is never a desirable one for textbook compilation. Therefore, I think this governmental policy, which is not only unconstitutional but also does not consider the inherent characteristics of the subject, should be withdrawn and abolished completely.