Abe's Japan continues policy of lies
Japanese Ambassador to Korea Koro Bessho, left, sits down for a meeting with First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seoul, Monday. The ministry called in the ambassador to protest the Shinzo Abe government’s review of history textbooks to include the claim that Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost islets, is part of Japanese territory. / Yonhap
More Japanese textbooks to contain Dokdo claim
By Yi Whan-woo
Japan has no intention to heed the advice from its neighbors and German Chancellor Angela Markel to own up to its misdeeds during World War II.
On Monday, Tokyo under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took another step in that direction with a review of middle school history textbooks.
All 18 textbooks that underwent a review this year contain the claim that Korea is illegally occupying Dokdo, and the islets have been Japan’s indigenous territory throughout history.
In the previous review in 2011, only four of the 18 reflected the argument that Korea took control of the islets, which Japan calls “Takeshima,” while nine others stated the islets inherently belong to Tokyo.
The textbooks have been printed by private publishers under guidelines issued by the Japanese government, according to Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The foreign ministry criticized Tokyo, Monday, for strengthening its claims to Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost islets.
"Japan once again took a provocative step by approving middle school textbooks that distort unequivocal historical facts," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Tokyo should have a correct view of history and own up to its misdeeds during the colonial period.
First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong summoned Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho to his office in Seoul.
"We called on Japan to make efforts to improve the bilateral ties with sincerity based on the spirit of apologies made by its previous administrations, during a landmark year," the ministry said.
Korea has controlled the islets since its liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-45). And Seoul maintains its stance that Doko has been under its sovereignty in terms of history, geography and international law.
Meanwhile Japan has argued it legally incorporated the islets, which it calls Takeshima, into Shimane Prefecture on February 22, 1905.
Japan also is expected to repeat its claim over the islets in a diplomatic paper that it plans to unveil today.
The examination also comes after Korea, Japan and China held a foreign ministerial meeting in Seoul on March 21 amid Tokyo’s territorial and historical disputes with its two neighbors.
The meeting of Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his counterparts ― Wang Yi from China and Fumio Kishida from Japan ― was the first since April 2012.
The three diplomats agreed to work together for a trilateral summit, which has not taken place since May 2012.
“It’s likely our efforts to enhance Seoul-Tokyo dialogue will be hit by public sentiment against Japan,” said Jin Chang-soo, director of the Japan Center at the Sejong Institute.
Lee Won-deok, a professor of international relations studies at Kookmin University, agreed, saying, “The incident will inevitably affect the bilateral relationship this year, which marks the 50th anniversary since the normalization of Seoul-Tokyo diplomatic ties.”
Their remarks sound convincing considering Korea and Japan have other issues they have to untangle.
Cho previously summoned Koro in June to protest Tokyo's review of its landmark 1993 apology on sexual enslavement of Asian women, mostly Koreans, before and during WWII.
Sex slavery has been one of the thorny issues in Seoul-Japan relations along with the territorial dispute over Dokdo.
This year, the neighboring nations mark the 50th anniversary of normalizing one-on-one diplomatic ties after Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910-45.
To protest Japan's move, meanwhile, the ministry said it has opened an updated website to promote Dokdo (https://dokdo.mofa.go.kr) in 11 languages, including Italian, Portuguese and Hindi.