The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) launched a campaign on September 29, 2022, calling on Harvard Business School to revise its curriculum, which includes textbooks containing historical distortions such as “Goryeo was a vassal state of China” and “Korea developed thanks to Japan.”
A mandatory textbook used at Harvard Business School states, “During Japan’s 35-year rule, the Japanese government integrated the Korean economy with its own and banned the use of the Korean language.” It then goes on to claim, “However, during this period, Korea underwent significant industrialization, with advancements in transportation and electricity. The education, administrative, and economic systems were also modernized.”
Additionally, the textbook presents Korea’s ancient history as beginning in 668 AD with Silla’s unification of the Three Kingdoms, omitting any mention of the cultures of Goguryeo and Baekje, and entirely disregarding Balhae. Moreover, it falsely describes Goryeo as a “vassal state” that paid tribute to China.
In response, on September 30, 2022, VANK researcher Minseo Ma sent protest letters to six entities, including Harvard Business School, the textbook authors, the publishing company, and the school’s academic support and education centers. The letter emphasized the need to correct the textbook’s failure to acknowledge the suffering of Koreans under Japanese colonial rule—including the exploitation of comfort women, forced labor, and economic plundering—as well as its distortions of Korean history.
Harvard Business School responded a week later, on October 7, 2022, with a letter from Professor Forest Reinhardt, a faculty member at the business school and co-author of the Korea textbook.
Dear Ms. Ma,
Thank you for taking the time and effort to write to my colleague and me. I want you to know that we value feedback on the cases we write for our students and take your views very seriously. In fact, my colleague and I have already had the opportunity to engage in several enlightening conversations with officials from the Korean diplomatic corps about the very topics you mentioned in your letter. We are always interested in improving our work and expect to make editorial changes to future versions of this case.
Thank you again for your interest in our work. Best wishes,
Forest Reinhardt
VANK acknowledged Harvard’s response as a meaningful step, interpreting it as an indication that the university recognizes the seriousness of the historical inaccuracies and is open to reviewing potential revisions.
Minseo Ma, the VANK researcher who initiated the protest, stated, “A historically distorted textbook at Harvard Business School, an institution with immense global influence, must be corrected. We will continue to monitor and respond to this issue until the necessary revisions are made. We also urge the public to actively participate in VANK’s campaign to ensure that the inaccuracies in Harvard’s textbooks are ultimately corrected.”
Following Harvard’s response, VANK announced plans to produce and distribute digital posters in both Korean and English to raise awareness about the textbook’s historical distortions.
“Harvard Business School, an institution that educates the world’s top leaders, is using a mandatory textbook that includes historical distortions and rationalizes Japanese imperialist aggression. We call on Harvard to correct all inaccuracies in its Korea textbook!”