SEOUL, South Korea — President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday defended her government’s decision to teach children history with government-issued textbooks, arguing that the move was aimed partly at preventing the country from ever again being dominated by a foreign power.

“We are witnessing a rapid shift in Northeast Asia and its vicinity,” Ms. Park said in her first reaction to a political firestorm ignited by the government announcement on Monday. “Given the situation, if we don’t try to inculcate the students with historical convictions and pride, we may be culturally and historically subjugated by another country.”

Ms. Park made the comment in a meeting with her senior presidential staff, according to her office, hours before leaving for the United States for a summit meeting with President Obama.

The two leaders are expected to discuss South Korea’s increasingly tricky balancing act between the United States, its biggest military ally, and China, its main trading partner. Last month, Ms. Park was the only leader from a major American ally to attend a military parade in Beijing that highlighted China’s growing quest for military influence in the region. Ms. Park has met President Xi Jinping of China several times while shunning Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, another crucial American ally.