"Dokdo is Japanese Territory" Japanese Textbooks Increase... Now Account for 90% of Total

"Dokdo is Japanese territory, South Korea's illegal occupation" baseless claim

It has been revealed that the baseless claim that Dokdo is "Japan's inherent territory" has been further strengthened in the textbooks that Japanese middle school students will use starting next year.

On the 22nd, it was found that some textbooks approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology included expressions stating that Dokdo was "illegally occupied" by Korea. The claim of "Korea's illegal occupation" was described in both civics and geography textbooks, and was also included in five history textbooks. The geography textbooks contained expressions such as "Because Korea is illegally occupying it, Japan continues to protest" (publisher: Tokyo Shoseki) and "Unilaterally setting boundaries in international waters and illegally inspecting with the maritime police and lighthouses" (Teikoku Shoin).

Dokdo. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The civics textbooks explained, "The Japanese government's position is that it is Japan's inherent territory both historically and under international law" (Kyoiku Shuppan), and "It is clearly Japan's inherent territory, but Korea is illegally occupying it" (Ikuhosha).

Four years ago, 14 out of 17 textbooks (about 82%) described Dokdo as Japan's "inherent territory." However, this time, 16 out of 18 textbooks (about 89%) did so, showing an increase.

In particular, geography and civics textbooks consistently included maps, photos, and illustrations alongside the claims of sovereignty over Dokdo. For example, Nihon Munkyo Shuppan marked the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on a map of the area around Japan in the civics textbook, and next to the marked point, they prominently wrote "竹島" (Takeshima, the name Japan claims for Dokdo).

On the afternoon of the 22nd, Han Hye-in, an executive committee member of the Asia Peace and History Education Solidarity, spoke about the distortion of history during an urgent press conference on the results of the 2024 adoption of Japanese junior high school social studies textbooks held at the Gyeongju Lee Clan Central Hwasu Hall in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The history textbook published by Yamakawa Shuppan changed the phrase "Regarding Japanese territory, the Japanese government recognizes the existence of a territorial dispute with Korea over Takeshima" to "Japan's inherent territory." The Ikuhosha civics textbook, which had previously stated that Dokdo is Japan's inherent territory, added an explanation that the term "inherent territory" means "land that has never been foreign territory."

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