Japan should correct falsely written textbooks
The Japanese government has again come under criticism for approving school textbooks making territorial claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo. Japan's education ministry approved 30 social studies textbooks and six small atlases for first year high school students Tuesday. Most of the textbooks describe Dokdo as “Japan's indigenous territory” that is illegally occupied by Korea.
Since 2016, Japan has had 27 textbooks containing Japan's territorial claim to Dokdo. The Shinzo Abe administration issued curriculum guidelines in 2018 ordering schools to use the social studies textbooks containing Japan's Dokdo claim from the 2022 school year. It is regrettable to see Tokyo's territorial claim has been further fortified in the textbooks which passed the recent government screening.
Regarding Japan's wartime sexual enslavement, only one of 12 history textbooks mentioned it as “forced conscription” while others downplayed or completely whitewashed the historical facts. With such kinds of textbooks, the future generations of Japan cannot appropriately learn the fact that Tokyo's mobilization of Asian women was a brutal crime against humanity committed before and during World War II.
This also runs counter to the Japanese government's stance in 1993 when it issued the Kono Statement admitting to the forced mobilization of women as sex slaves for the Japanese military, and pledged to teach such facts to students. Then Chief Cabinet Minister Yohei Kono apologized for Japan's use of women as sex slaves and vowed not to repeat such misdeeds. The recently approved textbooks obviously fail to reflect such self-repentance.
The Japanese government has been criticizing Korea for allegedly having reneged on a bilateral agreement on the resolution of the sexual slavery issue reached in December 2015 under the rule of the former President Park Geun-hye administration. Yet, the recent approval of the textbooks shows Japan is accountable for the issue. The textbooks also describe Japan's imperial invasion of Asia as “advancement.” This reminds us of Japan's distortion of historical facts in textbooks in 1982 justifying its annexation of Korea as “progression,” and deprivation of diplomatic sovereignty as “acceptance.”
Seoul denounced Tokyo for approving the textbooks, saying Japan is falsely claiming its territorial sovereignty over Dokdo without correctly describing the historical facts as they are. “The ROK government cannot but deplore the Japanese government once again for its authorization of textbooks containing Japan's preposterous claims over Dokdo, which is clearly an integral part of Korean territory,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam said in a statement. The ministry also called in Hirohisa Soma, deputy head of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to express regret over the matter.
Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have remained deadlocked and will likely worsen further due to the approval of the textbooks. Unless the future generations have the right historical perception it is difficult to expect amicable ties between the two countries. We urge Japan to face up to its history squarely and recognize that Tokyo can only make a genuine reconciliation and develop true friendship with Seoul after sincerely apologizing for its past misdeeds. And correcting the falsely written textbooks should be the first step in that direction.