The Korean history narrative of the twentieth century, including interpretations of Japanese colonial
rule and the post–World War II national division on the Korean Peninsula in particular, has currently divided historians and educators in South Korea. Recently, the government writing policy of the secondary school Korean history textbook faces a political confrontation of these two factions: the government and the conventionalist social scientists vs. the revisionist academicians and educators. This presentation will seek a Korean history narrative beyond ideological contention by rethinking both light and shadow of the two tragedies of Korea in the twentieth century—nationhood lost and house divided.