The New Right's view of modern and contemporary Korean history is known to be contrary to the view of
progressive Korean nationalists. The New Right movement is led by descendants of those who collaborated with the
Japanese imperialism and
Shōwa Statism (國家主義) during the time when
Korea was a Japanese colony. The New Right movement opposes
Korean ethnic nationalism (민족주의; 民族主義) and is a radical advocate for South Korean-based
state nationalism (국가주의; 國家主義); they oppose anti-Japanese ethno-nationalism, positively evaluate the history of modernization caused by Japanese colonial rule and support the view that South Korea was founded in 1948, when the official government was established, not 1919, when the
Provisional Government was established, which has been criticized by opponents for downplaying the history of the
independence movement. New Right scholars try to promote
pro-American (친미; 親美) and
pro-Japanese (친일; 親日) sentiment among South Koreans. South Korea's New Rightists have a strong anti-communist perception of North Korea and a favorable perception of Japan, an ally with the United States, because they have a stronger pro-American sentiment than liberal-to-progressives. According to South Korean political experts, the New Right movement is based on the Korean
sadaejuui sentiment. or "
far-right". There is a controversy that New Right scholars support the colonialist view of Japanese people. New Right scholars have been criticized socially for accepting Japanese
historical revisionism for
Japanese war crimes. Even
Hong Joon-pyo, known as a hardline conservative, criticized New Rightist perception of history.
Yuji Hosaka, an ethnically Japanese naturalized South Korean, accused New Right of being a
new Chinilpa in support of Japanese
far-right. Hosaka accused South Korean New Right scholars of sympathizing with
Nippon Kaigi's view of history. Lee Woo-yeon, co-author of
Anti-Japan Tribalism, was funded by a
Japanese far-right groups, according to a report by the
Kyunghyang Shinmun.
Chin Jung-kwon, a political commentator, said "Japanese far-right politics is 'sadistic' and South Korean far-right politics is 'masochistic'", and "the 'colonialist historical perspective' is a 'political
sadomasochism' directed by Japanese and South Korean far-right as
sex partners". The New Right movement is often criticized for its worship of
authoritarian politicians in addition to pro-Japanese historical revisionism. In particular, the number of dictators
Syngman Rhee and
Park Chung-hee statues, has been increasing by South Korean conservatives, including New Right activists, since 2009. This is contrary to the example of Taiwan, which has been reducing the number of dictator
Chiang Kai-shek statues since the 2010s. ==Activism==