Similar sentiments are being expressed by other countries in Asia.
[KOREA-JAPAN TIES] At Odds Over History
Korean government, civic groups raise issue over approved Japanese textbooks
Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Han Seung-soo on April 4 urged the Japanese government to take honest and sincere measures to prevent the distortion of historical facts involving Japan’s wartime atrocities. Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo (right) and Japanese Amb. Terusuke Terada walk into Han’s office in Seoul on April 4. Han summoned the envoy to lodge Seoul’s protest against the Japanese government’s authorization of controversial history textbooks. In a meeting with Japanese Amb. Terusuke Terada, Han expressed deep disappointment over the outcome of the Japanese government’s approval of eight new middle school textbooks, particularly one which contained a number of egregious historical distortions regarding Japan’s colonization of Korea and other Asian nations. Although the revision of the authorized textbooks added corrections or improvements over the originals, some of them still include passages based on a self-centered interpretation of history, justifying or glorifying Japan’s wartime atrocities, Han said. Han was concerned about the “negative impacts” the textbook issue would have on relations between South Korea and Japan.
Appearing on KBS-TV on April 3, Han said, "The Japanese textbook and its distortion of history is a great hindrance to the friendship between Korea and Japan. Representatives of a coalition of 59 Korean nongovernmental organizations (left) and leaders of 12 Japanese NGOs release separate statements simultaneously in Seoul and Tokyo on April 3 in protest against Japan’s approval of new school textbooks condemned by Asian neighbors for whitewashing activities during the World War II, ignoring its responsibilities.
“The alarming rise of militant right-wing groups in Japan is a problem which can be solved only by the Japanese themselves. However, our government should closely watch the continued existence and observance of the current Japanese constitution.” Meanwhile, outraged South Koreans held street protests in Seoul on April 4, accusing Tokyo of whitewashing its past wartime atrocities in the school textbooks. Outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, a few dozen South Korean women forced by the Japanese military into sexual slavery during World War II staged a rally, shouting "Japan, repent!‘’ “It is an unforgivable sin to turn one’s face away from past atrocities while many of the victims are still suffering from the abuse they endured,” said a statement issued at the protest. In a separate anti-Japan rally, one citizen bit his finger to write a bloody slogan, “Down with Japan,” on a paper sheet before protesters began marching the streets. The ruling and opposition parties urged the Japanese government to rectify distortions in its textbooks for middle school students and to replace Education Minister Nobutaka Machimura immediately.
Full Text of Seoul Statement on Textbooks
Following is the full text of a statement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued on the outcome of Japan’s screening of history textbooks. - Ed.
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The government of the Republic of Korea expresses its deep regret about the outcome of the Japanese government’s screening of junior high school history textbooks. Although the Japanese government explains that the screening process was carried out in accordance with the so-called “consideration of the neighboring countries” clause, some of the textbooks that have passed the screening process still include contents rationalizing and beautifying Japan’s past wrongdoings based upon a self-centered interpretation of history.
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The Korean government is gravely concerned that the distorted view of history that such textbooks are likely to instill in Japan’s growing generations is not only undesirable for Japan’s future and its responsibilities in the international community but also highly detrimental to Korea-Japan relations.
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The Korean government strongly urges the Japanese government to take fundamental measures to prevent such distortions of history, based upon the recognition of history as contained in the “Joint Declaration on a New Korea-Japan Partnership for the 21st Century,” adopted on the occasion of the state visit to Japan by President Kim Dae-jung in October 1998, as well as in the “Special Statement on the 50th Anniversary of the End of World War II” made by then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995.
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The Korean government will work out the necessary measures to take, based on further analysis of the outcome of the screening in close consultation among the expert authorities.