Seoul Makes Protest Official

Terusuke Terada, Japanese ambassador in Seoul, was called in by Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo Tuesday to receive Seoul's demand that corrections be made in 35 passages in eight Japanese history textbooks, including those related to the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 and the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. Mr. Han asked for a prompt and forthcoming response from Tokyo.

"Japan should remember the international promises it made in the joint declaration for a new partnership in the 21st century and its basic position on history education in the international community," said Mr. Han, referring to a 1998 agreement which was intended to mark a new, less-contentious phase in Korea-Japan bilateral relations.

"Please devise fundamental measures to prevent distortions of history from recurring," the foreign minister added, although he was careful to say that Seoul does not intend to intervene in Japanese history education policies.

Of the 35 items selected for revision demands after a month-long study by the National Institute of Korean History, the Korean Educational Development Institute and an inter-ministerial task force, the textbook written by right-wing scholars of the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform was singled out among the eight controversial textbooks for its 25 distorted passages.

Among them were the allegedly inaccurate statement that Japan invaded southern Korea from the fourth to the sixth century and the description of the annexation of Korea in 1910 as partly voluntary instead of forced.

The description of the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 as a "dispatch of troops" was also highlighted by the Korean government.

The Seoul protest note also asserted that five of the eight controversial textbooks tried to evade responsibility for the invasion and colonization of Korea between 1910 and 1945, and omitted any mention of atrocities committed by Japan, such as the forced conscription of Korean and other women during the war to serve as sex slaves.

If the Japanese government does not take steps to rectify the textbooks, Seoul said, the government plans to push for condemnation of Japan in international organizations and delay indefinitely the opening of the Korean market to Japanese popular culture, among other responses.

In Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi repeated that it would not be possible to revise the already approved textbooks again. He continued, "But we need to take sincerely what the Republic of Korea says and study what step we can take in the future."

by Ahn Sung-kyoo