|
April 10, 2009
|
|
| The South Korean government expressed dismay over the Japanese government’s approval of a textbook that the South says contains distorted descriptions of historical events. Japan’s Education Ministry yesterday approved the history textbook authored by a right-wing group called the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform. It is published by Jiyusha Publishing. Japan reviews textbooks every four years before authorizing their use at schools. A high-ranking official at the South Korean Foreign Ministry said the new book will be put to use next year, but it remained unclear how many schools will choose it. According to the Korean Foreign Ministry, the content of the new book is quite similar to that in another disputed textbook published by a different company that was approved in 2001 and 2005. For instance, the new book argues that Japan’s colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945 was designed to help Korea modernize. The text also justified Japan’s repeated invasion of Korea by arguing that the Korean Peninsula, for geopolitical reasons, presented a threat to Japanese security. Critics say it glosses over Japan’s invasion of other countries and glorifies those occasions by saying they sped the emancipation of different ethnic groups. “We strongly protest the Japanese government’s approval of the history textbook based on its erroneous historical perception that justifies its past wrongdoings,” Moon Tae-young, spokesman for Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said in a statement. Moon added that he was concerned Japanese students would develop a distorted perception of their own history by studying the book. “A precise awareness of history forms the basis of the future-oriented relations between Korea and Japan,” the spokesman said. “With that in mind, we stress once again that there must never be any distortion of history through textbooks.” Cho Tae-young, head of the ministry’s Northeast Asia Affairs Bureau, had summoned Reiichiro Takahashi, minister of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to register an official protest. Also, officials at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo were to visit the Japanese Foreign Ministry to do the same. A high-ranking Foreign Ministry official here, requesting anonymity, said the Japanese government does have guidelines for approving textbooks but does not disclose them. The Education Ministry in Japan made only a few technical changes and essentially left the contents untouched, the official added. Eight years ago, Japan approved a history book published by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform through Fusosha Publishing, prompting criticism from Korea for its glorification of Japan’s past. The book was approved again in 2005. By Yoo Jee-ho [jeeho@joongang.co.kr] |
|
