South Korea protested the Japanese government’s approval of a textbook claiming the South Korean-administrated Liancourt Rocks Wednesday.
South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho Byung Jae said his government remains firm in its response to Japan’s attempts to undermine South Korea’s territorial sovereignty over the islets. “We express a strong protest and demand an immediate retraction (of the territorial claim),” he said. South Korean foreign minister Kim Sung Hwan summoned Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Masatoshi Muto later Wednesday to deliver a similar protest on the issue.
I’ve mentioned before that Japan has a stronger legal claim over the islets, but South Korea has a stronger historical claim. I’ve also mentioned Japan’s controversial method of approving textbooks, which is influenced by Japan’s right-wing nationalists (imagine the the mafia, the Ku Klux Klan and the tea-party movement rolled into one). (To be fair, South Korean textbooks are written by the government.)
Cho also said the history textbooks “rationalize and glorify a distorted view of history.” Cho’s quote illustrates deeper motives from South Korea to protest the textbooks. South Korea apparently views the claims in the textbooks as part of a bigger picture of Japan’s glossing over the historical atrocities it has committed against Korea.
The U.S. supports Japan’s claim to the islets, but has distanced itself from the dispute in recent years.