Japan whitewashes wartime atrocities in new school textbooks

TOKYO, March 29 (Yonhap) -- The Japanese government has deleted words that show the coercive nature of its World War II atrocities against Koreans -- forced labor and sexual enslavement -- in school textbooks for use starting in 2023, according to a related ministry's announcement.

It has also strengthened its sovereignty claim to Dokdo, a set of South Korea-controlled rocky islets in the East Sea, in the textbooks to be used by second and third graders in high schools.

The expression "forced mobilization" regarding Koreans forced into hard labor at Japan's mines or industrial facilities has been revised to "mobilization" or "conscription" in the education ministry's screening and censorship process. Korea was under Japan's brutal colonial rule from 1910-45.

As for Korean women enslaved by Japan's imperial army, many of the textbooks, approved by the ministry, have left out the expression "wartime comfort women" or played down related historical facts.

On the other hand, Japan's assertions that Dokdo belongs to it or South Korea is illegally occupying the territory have been more reflected.

lcd@yna.co.kr
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