106 lawmakers demand Japan stop distorting history

A total of 106 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties signed a resolution Tuesday calling for Japan to stop distorting history in its school textbooks. The legislators, including Rep. Lee Nak-Yon of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party and Rep. Kim Won-Wung of the opposition Grand National Party, submitted the resolution to National Assembly Speaker Lee Man-Sup.

The resolution said, ``We can only deplore Japan`s behavior and express our deep concerns over the abridged and distorted descriptions of history contained in Japan`s middle school history textbooks, now awaiting government approval for use from the 2002 academic year.`` ``Such distortions of history are a challenge to the people of Asian countries that suffered under Japanese militarism and a betrayal of the worldwide longing for democracy and peace,`` it said.

The lawmakers urged the Japanese government to correct the distortions of history in its review of the textbook. They vowed to review the government policy of throwing open the nation`s doors to Japanese pop culture unless Japanese authorities correct the distortions. They also vowed to reconsider using the title of Japanese emperor in official documents and suspending the activities of the binational parliamentarians` league.

The resolution will be officially adopted in a plenary session Tuesday after it is approved by the Unification-Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee. The 106 lawmakers who signed the resolution are from 10 fraternal groups in the Assembly such as the ``Meeting of Thinking Nation and Culture`` and ``Meeting of Loving Tok-do,`` and members assigned to the Unification-Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee and Education Committee.

[Yonhap]