South, North Korean lawmakers to oppose Japanese textbook distortion

Delegates from South and North Korea attending the ongoing Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference agreed Tuesday (local time) to map out strong joint countermeasures against Japan`s history textbook distortions. They planned to hold a joint press conference with the Chinese delegation to blast Japan for its distortions of history.

The South`s chief delegate, National Assembly speaker Lee Man-Sup directed Reps. Chyung Dai-Chul and Chung Jey-Moon to open a dialogue channel with the North to discuss adopting a joint declaration in which both nation`s parliaments would protest Japan`s approval of the textbooks. Ma Young-Il, a North Korean delegate said, ``If the South agrees, we must seek joint legislative countermeasures with China.``

Earlier, the South Korean delegation submitted a resolution to an IPU committee in charge of international law. The resolution said, ``We confirm that keeping thorough records of Japan`s past human rights abuses and never forgetting them are the most effective ways to ensure that they never happen again.``

National Assembly Speaker Lee, meanwhile, said in a speech at the IPU meeting, ``I hope the second South-North summit talks will proceed without any delays.`` He also said, ``I asked Cuban President Fidel Castro to open diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba, and President Castro agreed to my proposal.``

Yonhap

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