"Dokdo is Japanese territory"... Japanese High School Textbook Passes Screening

▲Japanese textbook labeling Dokdo as Takeshima [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] On the 30th, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced the results of the high school history textbook review, revealing that most textbooks included the Japanese government's claim of sovereignty over Dokdo.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun on the same day, among the 296 textbooks that passed the review, a total of 30 textbooks across three social studies subjects?Comprehensive History (12 types), Comprehensive Geography (6 types), and Civics (12 types)?were examined, and it was found that most textbooks described "Dokdo as Japan's inherent territory."

Among the 18 Comprehensive Geography and Civics textbooks, expressions such as "Dokdo is Japan's inherent territory" or "Korea is illegally occupying it" were included. Additionally, the 12 Comprehensive History textbooks generally described the process of incorporating Dokdo into Japanese territory, and some history textbooks explicitly stated that Dokdo is Japan's inherent territory.

Claims of sovereignty were also made over the Senkaku Islands (Chinese name Diaoyu Islands), a disputed territory with China, and the Kuril Islands (Japanese name Northern Territories), which are disputed with Russia.

Among the Comprehensive History and Civics textbooks that passed the review, 19 textbooks received review comments requesting revisions, labeling the descriptions of Dokdo, the Northern Territories, and Senkaku in the units dealing with territory and borders as "inappropriate."

Earlier, in March 2018, the Japanese government officially announced these teaching guidelines, which effectively require the mandatory inclusion of Japan's claim over Dokdo as Japanese territory.

There are concerns that Japan's unilateral claim of sovereignty over Dokdo in textbooks and teaching it to students could further complicate the already strained Korea-Japan relations, worsened by historical issues such as forced labor during the Japanese colonial period and the mobilization of comfort women by the Japanese military.

Meanwhile, the issue of Japanese military comfort women covered in the Comprehensive History textbooks was mostly downplayed. Textbooks describing the "coercion" involved in the mobilization of comfort women accounted for less than half of the total 12 types.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.