Historical Policy of the Roh Moo-hyun’s Government in South Korea: Seeking Reconciliation with the Past

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Abstract

Historical policy was one of the main directions of the domestic policy of the Roh Moo-hyun’s government (2003-2008). The ideological justification of revising the 20th century history of Korea was the idea of building a new Korean society based on the principles of democracy and the rule of civil rights and freedoms. Through the implementation of a new historical policy the Roh Moo-hyun’s government tried to prove that the creation of such a society was impossible without revealing the truth about the historical past, in which the state repeatedly neglected civil rights and committed crimes. Increased attention to issues of restoration of the historical justice is typical for the current government of Moon Jae-in, the political successor of Roh Moo-hyun. Based on the analysis of the governmental documents, legislation this paper reveals the main disagreements between political parties of the Republic of Korea around the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, identifies the key results of its activities.

About the authors

Natalya N. Kim

Institute of Oriental Studies RAS; National Research University Higher School of Economics

Author for correspondence.
Email: nkim@hse.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7728-7968

PhD in History, Associate Professor at the School of Asian Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Research Fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Science

Moscow, Russian Federation

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Copyright (c) 2021 Kim N.N.

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