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S. Korean Parliament Passes Resolution on Japanese Textbooks
The South Korean National Assembly, or parliament, passed a resolution against Japan's distorted-history middle school textbook at its plenary session Wednesday afternoon.
The Japanese government should correct distorted facts that may damage South Korean-Japanese relations, review history textbooks and eliminate phrases which might create international misunderstandings, the resolution said.
It urged the South Korean government to refrain from further opening the nation's culture market for Japanese producers and from calling Japan's head of state "emperor" in official documents until Japan corrects the historical distortions.
The resolution was submitted to the parliament Tuesday morning by a group of 106 South Korean legislators, who accused the Japanese government of moving to ratify school textbooks beautifying the Japanese invasion and atrocity in Asian countries before and during World War II.
"This distortion of history is not only a challenge to all the peoples of Asian countries that suffered from Japan's militarism, but is also an affront to all of the people of the world who wish for democracy and peace," they said at a press conference Tuesday.
Early Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Lee Joung-binn met Japanese Ambassador Terusuke Terada, expressing the concerns of the South Korean government and people over the alleged distortions of historical facts in the revised textbook.
Lee urged the Japanese government to respond to the issue wisely and prudently.
He pointed out that an accurate acknowledgment of the two nations' past history, as expressed in their 1998 joint declaration on partnership, is the basic premise for the development of South Korea-Japan relations.
The South Korean minister stressed that the textbook issue should not be an obstacle to bilateral cooperation at a time when South Korea and Japan work more closely than ever before securing peace in East Asia and the 2002 World Cup soccer finals, which the two countries are to cohost.
Terusuke responded that he was fully aware of South Korea's position and promised to relay it to his government.
The ambassador said the review of the history textbook revisions are underway but results have not yet come out, adding that his government still holds the position it expressed in the 1998 joint statement and the declaration by the then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995.
The Japanese government reportedly will determine whether to pass the revisions of several history textbooks later next month.
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