South Korean civic groups Monday warned of action to protest Japan's decision to revise only two of the 35 passages in recently-approved middle school textbooks that Seoul says distort its military aggression on the peninsula.
In a press conference at Pagoda Park in central Seoul, a coalition of 80 civic groups formed to protest Japan's alleged whitewashing of history said, "the Japanese government eventually turned down South Korea's demand that 35 parts in eight history textbooks be amended." And they urged the government to take stern diplomatic action.
The organization said it will struggle to the end with other conscientious forces worldwide to protest against Japan's attitude.
The civilian-level actions mentioned by the organization include protest visits by local administration officials to their counterparts in Japanese sister cities and a nation-wide campaign to buy advertising space in Japanese newspapers to call on schools not to use the controversial history textbooks. It also called for a boycott of Japanese products exported by corporate supporters of the ultra right-wing Japanese group that edited the most offensive of the eight texts cited.