The government has strongly condemned Japan’s decision to approve new elementary school textbooks which state that South Korea is illegally occupying the Dokdo islets in the East Sea.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said the South Korean government strongly denounces the authorization of the books which include wrongful claims about the Dokdo islets, which are South Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law. The statement then called for the immediate withdrawal of the improper claims.
The statement added the Japanese government must realize that instilling wrongful territorial claims based on a distorted perception of history to elementary school students will negatively affect the advancement of future-oriented ties between Seoul and Tokyo.
Earlier in the day, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology approved ten types of social studies books published by three publishing companies that carried the wrongful claims about Dokdo.