Gov`t to demand revision of Japanese history textbooks

The government will officially demand that the Japanese government revise again some 20 to 30 accounts in the new Japanese history books that are remarkably distorted or omit historical facts, officials said Tuesday.

The government made the decision on the basis of provisional results of precision analyses of eight different textbooks by an experts` team of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development and the National History Compilation Committee.

Prime minister Lee Han-Dong will preside over an inter-ministry meeting on the textbook issue within this week, based on the outcome of a meeting between the government`s special task force and a private advisory group, to finalize the accounts that should be modified again. The government will deliver its position on the issue to Japan around May 2, the officials said.

The distorted descriptions in the textbooks that the government will demand should be revised include Imna Japanese colony, glossing over the Japan`s forced annexation of Korea, justification of colonial rule and the Pacific War and concealing the existence of ``comfort women.``

The government will classify the distorted descriptions into three categories – erroneous description of fact, erroneous interpretation and explanation of history and deletion of historical

descriptions. The government will also present concrete historical evidence about the accounts that should be rewritten again.

It will also point to the basic problems with Japan`s imperialistic view of history and will demand the correction of the ``wrong view of history,`` the officials said.

Meanwhile, the government will hold the third meeting of an inter-ministry task force Wednesday to discuss which accounts should be revised again on the basis of the result of the precision analysis by the National History Compilation Committee. The meeting will be presided over by vice education-human resources minister Kim Sang-Kwon.

[Yonhap]