SEOUL, South Korea — Half my life was spent outside South Korea, but I still cannot forget certain history lessons from childhood in Seoul. Dokdo, rocky islets claimed by both South Korea and Japan, is an inalienable Korean territory. Hangul, the writing system credited to a 15th-century king and used by the two Koreas, is the most scientific on Earth. Even after I wrote a doctoral dissertation on
![Opinion | South Korea’s Textbook Whitewash (Published 2015)](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/2246ef5375c6a658d0f7664cb3e94978b0b5a1ec/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2015%2F11%2F12%2Fopinion%2F12koo%2F12koo-facebookJumbo.jpg%3Fyear%3D2015%26h%3D550%26w%3D1050%26s%3Ddd6d489769c7701f3a07051c345f438a927a33cde5dd147dd3609d0ea0dab702%26k%3DZQJBKqZ0VN)