Korea s Nord Politics and New Direction of Geography Education in Korea

The recent geography education at level of middle and high school in KOrea is facing two inevitable problems. One is the consistent shrinking of th eproper geography territory and teaching shares whenever revision of the school curriculum has occured. The second one is a failure to accommodate unceasingly a new knowledge of regional geography in a rapidly chaning world, and to reflect problem-oriented topics which are closely related to the Korean national policy and interests of foreign countries on the school curriculum. In handling the latter, one major question is, Exactly what is the problem with the current teaching of world and regional geography and in what way can we accommodate new contexts of regionla geography relating to the Korean Nord Politics into the school curriculum? This paper suggests a new division for world and regional geography based on the concept of a Korea-centric world view, maximization of national interests and full accommodation of new knowledge of the chaning world applicable to the high school and college levels considered. Two major regions, the Korea s Nord Region and the Pacific Rim ARea, and five other sub-regions can be identified as a proposed unit of study strategically designed for better future geography education. For the delination of this regional division, the paper considers the goal of national interests such as Korea s Nord Policy, a new pivotal area in terms of economic and political affairs which will critically influence national development in the near future. Additionally the concepts of a Korea-centric view of the world and the role of Korea within and among regions is considered.