SEOUL, March 25 — South Korea on Tuesday denounced Japan for authorizing high school textbooks that distort colonial history and lay territorial claims to disputed islets, called Dokdo here and Takeshima in Japan. Seoul’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the government strongly protests against Japan’s authorization of high school textbooks containing unfair claims over Dokdo, which is clearly an integral part of South Korea’s territory historically, geographically, and by international law. The ministry noted that the textbooks also contain a number of distorted historical descriptions to water down the coercion on the issues of sexual slavery and forced labor victims, expressing deep regret over Japan tolerating such textbooks. It urged the Japanese government to sincerely put into practice the spirit of apology and reflection on history revealed by Tokyo itself before. Dokdo is a couple of rocky outcroppings lying halfway between the two countries, which were forcibly incorporated into Imperial Japan during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea restored sovereignty over the islets after the peninsula’s liberation from colonization. Seoul has since maintained a small police detachment there. South Koreans have seen Japan’s territorial claims over the islets as its denial of colonial history. Hundreds of thousands of Korean people were forced, kidnapped or duped into sexual servitude for Japan’s military brothels and forced labor for Japan’s arms manufacturers during the Pacific War. The ministry said the future-oriented relations between South Korea and Japan should be based on the right historical perception, hoping Japan would be responsible for educating its young generation.
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