Japanese textbook riles neighbors

TOKYO, Japan -- In a move that has angered Asian neighbors, Japan has approved a school textbook which critics say glosses over the country's wartime aggression.

The Education Ministry endorsed the draft of the junior high school history textbook, which was written by nationalist historians, following a screening by a ministry panel.

But the move has sparked outrage in South Korea, with a foreign ministry official saying on Tuesday the country may recall its ambassador to Tokyo in protest against the textbook that Seoul says distorts history.

Japanese history textbooks have traditionally led to a fierce debate at home and in Asian countries invaded by Japan in the first half of the 20th century.

Recall is option

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Euy-taek said the possible recall of Japan's ambassador to Seoul was "an option that may be considered."

The South Korean government earlier expressed "deep regret" that the Japanese government had authorized the textbook and said it would take further measures in protest.

The ministry said some of the textbooks that passed screening included material "rationalizing and glorifying Japan's past wrongdoings based upon a self-centered interpretation of history."

Japanese troops 'valiant'

Japan's Education Ministry endorsed the draft of the textbook following a screening by a ministry panel which recommended about 137 sections be revised due to their controversial content.

But the panel left out other controversial sections, Kyodo news agency said, including parts that refer to Japanese troops as "valiant."

South Korea says the textbook covers up some of the more brutal aspects of Japan's 35-year occupation of the Korean peninsula -- including the fact that Koreans were forced to speak Japanese and pledge loyalty to its emperor.

Civic groups vow to fight on

South Korean civic groups joined the chorus on Tuesday, lambasting the textbooks.

"The people of Asia will join hands and fight so that anachronistic and inhumane school textbooks can no longer set foot on this land," said a statement issued by an organization of 59 civic groups in South Korea.

"Our reaction does not stem solely from anti-Japanese sentiment," said Yang Mi-kang, head of a South Korean civic group that is demanding compensation for South Korean women who were drafted by the Japanese army during World War Two to serve as prostitutes.

"We want to make sure that historical facts are not distorted into lies."

The civic groups plan to join hands with various private organizations in Japan and conduct a petition calling for further revisions to the text, Yang said.

Not Holocaust scale

Japanese media reported the original draft had said Japan's occupation of Korea was in line with international law and described the Nanjing Massacre as being "nothing on the scale of the Holocaust."

Following the panel's recommendation, Kyodo said the publishers revised the section to make it clear the annexation of Korea was carried out by force to quash opposition by the Korean people.

It also took out the reference playing down the scale of the Nanjing Massacre, in which China says as many as 300,000 civilians died when Japanese troops overran the eastern city in December 1937.

The textbooks are due to go into use from April 2002.

Women forced to provide sex

The Korean peninsula was a Japanese colony from 1910 to the end of World War Two in 1945. Historians say Japanese rule was harsh and exploitative.

A majority of the 200,000 women who were forced to provide sex for Japan's former Imperial Army were from Korea, historians say. Others came from Taiwan and the Philippines.

The textbook row is also threatening to halt the opening up of South Korea to Japanese cultural influences.

In 1998, Japan's late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi extended a written apology to South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung that paved the way to improve decades of strained relations.

Since then Korea has eased rules that had for years banned the import of Japanese cultural items, including books, music and films.

The two countries are due to co-host soccer's World Cup finals in 2002.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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