South Korean President Park Geun-hye, shown here on a recent visit to the White House, has been criticized for a proposal to nationalize Korean history textbooks. File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI |
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SEOUL, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- North Korea hurled invectives at the South on Thursday, this time for Seoul's plans to nationalize history textbooks used in secondary schools, while warning the policy could affect North-South détente.
Pyongyang's state-controlled media outlet KCNA stated in an editorial titled "History's unprecedented coup" that the nationalization of the textbooks would be a "coup d'état over history that would resurrect a shameful past of a fascist dictatorship and submissive betrayal," South Korean outlet Newsis reported.
North Korea said South Korean authorities had begun mobilizing "pro-Japanese" academics as soon as they came to power, in order to revise history textbooks while claiming to defend "legitimacy" and correct "left-leaning" texts.
Pyongyang said the nationalization of the textbooks could "destroy the atmosphere of reconciliation" and create "extreme hostility among a unitary people." The policy also has the "arrogant aim of injecting a pro-U.S. consciousness," North Korea stated, adding the project should be abandoned immediately.
North Korea's pointed criticism of South Korea's textbook policy comes after mass protests were held in Seoul, where activists voiced their opposition to the revisions and other policies of South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Sinmun reported North Korea had issued a statement on Wednesday that criticized the South for paying lip service to rapprochement, while engaging in anti-Pyongyang rhetoric.
"The South Korean authorities are playing with fire every day by planning an invasion of the North with foreign powers, and turning up the heat by engaging in outdated anti-[North Korea] rhetoric on nuclear weapons and human rights," KCNA stated.
North Korea's blame did not go unanswered in Seoul. Yonhap reported Thursday South Korea repeated its calls to Pyongyang to hold high-level talks as agreed upon in a landmark deal reached on Aug. 25.
