ROK protests Japan's textbook revision

SEOUL - South Korea on Tuesday lodged a strong protest against Japan's revision on teaching manuals for junior and senior high school students, vowing to take stern measures against it.

"The Japanese Abe government made its preposterous claim once again to Dokdo islets, our inherent territory historically, geographically and under international laws, by revising its practice manual for junior and senior high school curriculum guidelines," Seoul's Foreign Ministry said in a spokesman's statement on its website.

Dokdo islets are also known as Takeshima in Japan.

The ministry urged Japan to immediately retract the revision, saying that the South Korean government will take stern measures corresponding to it unless Tokyo responds to the demand.

The statement came after Japanese Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura announced the decision to amend its manual on government guidelines for teachers and student textbooks used in middle and high schools.

The new teaching manual described the disputed territories between Japan and China and between Japan and South Korea as the " integral parts" of Japan's own territory.

The manual claimed that South Korea was illegally occupying the islets, noting that Japan was protesting against such illegal occupation.

Regarding the Diaoyu Islands, called Senkaku in Japan, the manual claimed that there was no territorial dispute to resolve on the East China Sea islands because Tokyo was controlling the islands effectively.

As for Japan's claim over the Diaoyu Islands, China has said repeatedly that no matter how hard the Japanese side attempts to promote its wrong positions, it cannot change the fact that the Diaoyu Islands are China's inherent territory.

"If the Japanese side takes steps of provocation and escalation on the Diaoyu Islands issue, China will surely stand up to them, and Japan must bear all the ensuing consequences," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily press briefing earlier.

Seoul's foreign ministry said that Japan was continuing its fraudulent claim over the Dokdo islets, which were the first victim of Japan's imperialist pillaging in the Korean Peninsula, noting that the attempt to teach students such false claims obviously showed Japan's habit of distorting history and its amorous pursuit of its militarist past.

Such deceptive attitudes made South Korea suspicious of Japan's real intention lurking behind its push for the so-called " proactive pacifism," the ministry said, adding that Japan has incessantly caused conflicts with neighboring countries and endangered peace and stability in the region.