The government expressed regret over Japan's approval of history textbooks containing distorted historic facts.

In a statement on Tuesday, Seoul's foreign ministry expressed deep regret over the approval of high school textbooks with distorted historical facts based on Tokyo's biased view of history, before calling for a correction.

The ministry strongly protested the texts due to their unjust claims over the Dokdo islets in the East Sea, South Korea's sovereign territory by history, geography and international law.
 
It also expressed deep regret over the distortion of the Japanese military's coercion of the Korean people for wartime sexual enslavement and forced labor.

The ministry urged Tokyo to act responsibly in educating future generations, as a correct understanding of history should be the cornerstone of the two sides' future relations. 

Kim Sang-hoon, director-general of the ministry's Asian and Pacific Affairs bureau, summoned Taisuke Mibae, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to lodge a formal protest.