South Korea says Japanese history books harming relations
( 2001-05-06 11:08 ) (7 )

South Korea's foreign minister accused Japan of "throwing cold water" on their relationship as he prepared to summon Tokyo's ambassador in a new bid to force changes to controversial history books.

Foreign Minister Han Seung-Soo said he will order the ambassador, Terusake Terada, to his office on Monday to officially demand the correction of the books, which allegedly whitewash Japan's wartime atrocities.

Highlighting mounting South Korean fury over the books, Han said in an interview with AFP on Friday that "at the very time when ties are going to boom this is like throwing cold water on the emerging relations."

He added, "Certainly, people's anger is very high."

South Korea has been at the forefront of Asian protests over the history school books which have emerged as one of the most pressing problems for the new Japanese government led by Jinichiro Koizumi.

Han said a planned meeting with the ambassador on Friday had to be postponed because many National Assembly deputies wanted stronger action than was proposed in a government report.

"So we have to think about their views and come up with new ideas," said the minister, who would not give details on what was planned.

Bilateral military meetings have already been postponed because of the dispute, the worst since President Kim Dae-Jung came to office in 1998 seeking to improve relations with Japan, his country's one-time arch-rival.

Seoul officials have called for Japan to take action to make sure the dispute does not affect the joint hosting of football's World Cup finals next year.

The Japanese government has approved the textbooks, which avoid references to Japan's pre-World War II invasion of its Asian neighbours and play down events such as the Nanjing Massacre in China and the use of tens of thousands of Asian women as sex slaves for Imperial troops.

Many of the women were from Korea, where memories remain bitter over Japan's brutal occupation between 1910 and 1945.

Han said women deputies on the National Assembly commission considering the proposed government action "have very, very strong views on the issue of 'Comfort Women.' Many women members are very, very angry about these distorted books."

He added, "The government has to take some action to rectify the situation but what kind of action depends on what kind of response the Japanese government makes."

Japan's new Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said last week she hoped for a "soft-landing" in a row with South Korea. But the Education Minister Atsuko Toyama turned down a demand by South Korea's Culture and Tourism Minister Kim Han-Gill, made in Tokyo, to correct the textbooks.

The books have been produced by nationalist scholars, with some corporate backing, who say Japan has been too "masochistic" in handling its past.

The South Korean foreign minister said, "There is a segment of the Japanese people who are going back, they are regressing. But there are many ordinary citizens who are not like this."

He said the South Korean government was "worried" now because President Kim had taken a risk in going to Tokyo in 1998 to make a joint declaration seeking to end rivalry between the neighbours.

"At the time not 100 percent of South Koreans supported President Kim. It took courage to try to forge forward-looking relations."

Han said that up to now relations had "flourished" with both sides changing their perceptions of the other.

"We are sorry because Japan is a model country to the world in many respects. We would like to see Japan produce a history text book, which teaches their youngsters -- who are the future of their nation -- and which can be respected by the people of the world," declared the minister.