ID :
83679
Thu, 10/08/2009 - 17:05
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/83679
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Seoul welcomes joint history book with Japan, but says will take time
By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Thursday welcomed the Japanese foreign
minister's suggestion to compile a joint history textbook but said it will take
some time.
"It will be a positive development if we can actually publish a common textbook,"
an official at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said of the remarks by
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Wednesday.
The foreign minister, in a speech to an association of foreign correspondents,
was quoted as saying that it would be "ideal" for South Korea, Japan and China to
jointly author history textbooks. Okada is the first Japanese official to come up
with the idea, apparently to help resolve constant disputes over Japan's wartime
past.
Japan's history textbooks have strained Seoul-Tokyo relations, with Tokyo accused
of whitewashing its crimes during the colonial occupation of the Korean
Peninsula. Japan colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945, during which hundreds of
thousands of Korean men were mobilized for forced labor and women for sexual
servitude. Japan also invaded many parts of Asia, including China, until the end
of the Pacific War.
The Cheong Wa Dae official noted a joint study was already underway by the three
countries' private sectors for a common history textbook, but said it will be a
"long-term" project.
"They have to consider the circumstances facing each country, but it will still
be an important attempt," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of
anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Seoul is hoping for improved relations with Tokyo with the inauguration of new
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who, in a bilateral summit with South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak in New York last month, said his government is
"brave enough to look straight in the face of history."
Lee and Hatoyama are set to hold their second bilateral summit here Friday, to be
followed by a three-way meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing the
following day.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Thursday welcomed the Japanese foreign
minister's suggestion to compile a joint history textbook but said it will take
some time.
"It will be a positive development if we can actually publish a common textbook,"
an official at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said of the remarks by
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Wednesday.
The foreign minister, in a speech to an association of foreign correspondents,
was quoted as saying that it would be "ideal" for South Korea, Japan and China to
jointly author history textbooks. Okada is the first Japanese official to come up
with the idea, apparently to help resolve constant disputes over Japan's wartime
past.
Japan's history textbooks have strained Seoul-Tokyo relations, with Tokyo accused
of whitewashing its crimes during the colonial occupation of the Korean
Peninsula. Japan colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945, during which hundreds of
thousands of Korean men were mobilized for forced labor and women for sexual
servitude. Japan also invaded many parts of Asia, including China, until the end
of the Pacific War.
The Cheong Wa Dae official noted a joint study was already underway by the three
countries' private sectors for a common history textbook, but said it will be a
"long-term" project.
"They have to consider the circumstances facing each country, but it will still
be an important attempt," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of
anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Seoul is hoping for improved relations with Tokyo with the inauguration of new
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who, in a bilateral summit with South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak in New York last month, said his government is
"brave enough to look straight in the face of history."
Lee and Hatoyama are set to hold their second bilateral summit here Friday, to be
followed by a three-way meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing the
following day.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
