Photo : YONHAP News
The government has expressed regret over Japanese high school textbooks including Japan’s territorial claims over South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.
In a statement issued Tuesday under the foreign ministry in Seoul, the government said it strongly protests the Japanese government’s move to approve high school social studies textbooks with distorted historical facts based on biased views of history and urged Tokyo to immediately make corrections.
The government said Japan had again approved books with territorial claims over the Dokdo islets which are clearly South Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law.
It made clear that it will not accept any contention from Japan over Dokdo.
The government also expressed deep regret over false depictions of Japan’s wartime sex slavery and forced labor and urged the Japanese government to squarely face history and educate future generations with a more responsible attitude.
Seoul stressed that the basis of building future-oriented bilateral ties starts from a recognition of the proper perception of history.
The foreign ministry summoned Hirotaka Matsuo, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to lodge a formal protest.
Earlier in the day, Japan’s education ministry finalized the results of its deliberation on textbooks that will be used in some high schools from next year.