Further revisions to be asked of Japanese textbooks

The government is to finalize its request to Japan for additional revisions to be made in its history textbooks, which are under fire for whitewashing past wrongdoings by militarist Japan, it was learned here Sunday. Seoul officials said that the draft version to be adopted Monday would call for complete amendments of erroneous descriptions to make them acceptable to people knowledgeable about Japan, and the Tokyo government would have to respond to the demands in one way or another.

The request will be delivered to the Japanese ambassador in Seoul Terusuke Terada by foreign affairs-trade minister Han Seung-Soo in early May. Further steps will be considered upon examining the Japanese response. The conference of foreign ministers at the Asia-Europe Meeting to be held in Beijing May 24-25 is expected to provide an opportunity for the foreign ministers of the two nations to discuss the textbook issue.

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Boo Hyung-Kwon bookum90@donga.com