Regarding Distortion of Japanese History Textbooks
Han Prime Minister: "Territorial Issues Are Sensitive... We Must Continue Dialogue, Criticism, and Research"
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stated on the 29th regarding the Japanese government's announcement of the history textbook review results, which described Dokdo as "Japan's inherent territory" and "illegally occupied by Korea," that “I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the appropriate position of the Republic of Korea yesterday.”
At a back briefing with reporters held at the Government Seoul Office Complex on the same day, Prime Minister Han was asked about Japan's distorted history textbook stance. He said, “Every country is sensitive about territorial issues, and especially between Korea and Japan, there is an unfortunate history of the past.”
He added, “(However) since the President has made a decision to remove one obstacle that was paralyzing Korea-Japan relations, there are issues that can be improved if Korea and Japan engage in exchanges and cooperation, so discussions should continue.”
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is presiding over the Ministerial Meeting on State Affairs held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 19th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
Prime Minister Han also said, “(Korea and Japan) should pursue various measures, dialogue, criticism, and joint research toward the future.”
Regarding reports that changes in the diplomatic and security line, including the replacement of National Security Office Director Kim Sung-han, are being considered, he avoided a direct answer, saying, “The Presidential Office said it is a false story and that everything has been explained well, so I have nothing more to add.”
He stated, “Although the economy is focused on crisis management and livelihood management, it is difficult to see very dramatic results due to the global economic situation,” and added, “However, I want to evaluate that diplomacy, security, and defense have been normalized from a new perspective and are the fields with the most concrete achievements.”
Regarding the domestic demand revitalization measures announced by the government that day, Prime Minister Han explained, “Because the global economy has been in recession due to high interest rates, it is not easy to revive the economy such as exports in the short term. Therefore, we prepared measures from the perspective of whether there are ways to raise overall demand on the domestic side.” He added, “Since interest rate stabilization increases the purchasing power of general consumers, policies that undermine consumers’ purchasing power should be approached cautiously.”
Meanwhile, earlier, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced the history textbook review results for a total of 11 textbooks, including nine social studies textbooks for grades 4 to 6 in elementary school and two maps, all of which labeled Dokdo as Japan’s territory “Takeshima (竹島).” These included content stating that Dokdo is Japan’s inherent territory and that “Korea is illegally occupying it.”
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in the spokesperson’s name, saying, “We strongly protest the Japanese government’s passing of textbooks containing unjust claims about Dokdo, which is clearly our inherent territory historically, geographically, and under international law. We clearly state that we cannot accept any of Japan’s claims regarding Dokdo.”
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