Opposition lawmakers propose resolution denouncing Japan's Dokdo claim, textbooks

Rep. Kim Sang-hee and other Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers protest at Gwanghwamun Plaza against the government's decision to compensate victims of Japan's wartime forced labor without Japan's contributions, March 17. Yonhap

Rep. Kim Sang-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday proposed a parliamentary resolution denouncing Japan's controversial textbooks and its sovereignty claim of Korea's easternmost Dokdo islets.

The resolution warns that the Japanese government's distorted perception of history could significantly hurt trust between Korea and Japan and urges Tokyo to apologize over its past wrongdoings.

The proposal came after Tokyo's approval of new textbooks that appeared to water down its atrocities against Koreans during its 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula and intensify its sovereignty claim over Dokdo.

The resolution was sponsored by 57 other lawmakers, including DPK leader Lee Jae-myung and floor leader Park Hong-keun. Some independents and minor progressive Justice Party lawmakers also sponsored the resolution. (Yonhap)