By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
A systematic government campaign has become necessary to help foreigners better understand Korea as many foreign textbooks contain erroneous information about the country according to the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), Sunday.
``South Korea's major export goods are industrial products and wood,'' a 2005 Egyptian school textbook says. A 2002 edition of a Turkish textbook describes Korea consisting of mainly Koreans, but also Japanese and Chinese residents.
The academy is now holding an exhibition showing how other countries portray Korea in their school textbooks, under the title ``Images of Korea in Foreign Textbooks.'' The exhibition opened Friday and will run through Aug.12 at Insa Art Center, downtown Seoul.
``In most cases, they are unintentional minor mistakes such as wrong statistics and names,'' Shin Yoo-jung, a librarian of the Center for Information on Korean Culture at AKS, said. ``Lack of understanding of Korea is the main reason behind the misrepresented information.''
The organization analyzed a total of 1,491 textbooks from some 60 countries to highlight some of the common mistakes that they make, she said.
When they find mistakes in textbooks, they ask publishers or educational authorities to correct the misrepresented parts, requests that are mostly accepted.
But when it comes to intentional distortion or issues of controversial history or territory with neighboring countries, it becomes difficult to make corrections, Shin said.
``China and Japan have been more aggressive and diplomatic in projecting their countries in foreign textbooks,'' she said.
But she pointed out that the exhibition also aims to show emerging positive images of Korea in foreign schoolbooks.
``In the past, Korea was mainly known for fast economic growth and the Korean War (1950-1953). But now, many textbooks have started to introduce Hallyu or the Korean cultural wave, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon or the successful 2002 World Cup as well as its long history,'' she said.
To promote a better understanding of Korea, the organization will also host an international conference under the theme ``Korea Seen Through the Eyes of Others'' in time to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the nation on Aug. 13.