SOUTH KOREA: Angry South Korean protesters rally against Japan's new high school textbook that makes a territorial claim to disputed islands, as the government urges Tokyo to revise the book saying it is 'unhelpful' for regional stability

Record ID: 466181

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: Angry South Korean protesters rally against Japan's new high school textbook that makes a territorial claim to disputed islands, as the government urges Tokyo to revise the book saying it is 'unhelpful' for regional stability
  • Date: 30th March 2012
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (MARCH 29, 2012) (REUTERS) SOUTH KOREAN PROTESTERS TEARING UP JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG PROTESTERS BURNING JAPANESE FLAG AND PICTURE OF JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER YOSHIHIKO NODA PICTURE OF NODA BURNING SCUFFLE AS POLICE EXTINGUISH BURNING PLACARDS AND FLAG PROTESTERS BURNING PLACARDS AND FLAG WHILE CHANTING POLICE PUTTING FIRE OUT PROTESTERS CHANTING PROTESTERS CHANTING AT JAPANESE EMBASSY (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) ANTI-JAPAN PROTEST LEADER, CHOO SEON-HEE, SAYING: "If they teach distorted history to children, what's going to happen to them when they grow up? They will take a wrong and distorted history as a correct one. So we urge Japan to revise it as soon as possible." JAPAN'S NATIONAL FLAG AT JAPANESE EMBASSY VARIOUS OF POLICE GUARDING JAPANESE EMBASSY VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING SOUTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN CHO BYUNG-JAE WALKING IN TO NEWS BRIEFING VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTRY'S SPOKESMAN, CHO BYUNG-JAE, SAYING: "We would like to send a clear message to Japan that creating this kind of conflict over history distortion, including the territorial disputes over the Dokdo, is eventually unhelpful not only to our bilateral relationship, but also to the stability and peace in the entire region." JOURNALISTS LAPTOP NEWS BRIEFING IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Korea, Republic of
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5GNS243L75MEAK0O8OYGZSOIB
  • Story Text: South Korea's angry demonstrators rallied on Thursday (March 29) to protest against Japan's new high school textbook that contains a territorial claim to disputed islands called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.
    The Japan's education ministry approved new school textbooks on Tuesday (March 27) .
    The question of sovereignty is long a sore point in relations between the two neighbours, after Japan colonised the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
    About 200 elderly protesters gathered in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and burned Japanese flags and placards bearing photos Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
    "If they teach distorted history to children, what's going to happen to them when they grow up? They will take a wrong and distorted history as a correct one. So we urge Japan to revise it as soon as possible," said protest leader Choo Seon-hee.
    South Korea's foreign ministry expressed deep concern that it might provoke disputes in the region in future.
    "We would like to send a clear message to Japan that creating this kind of conflict over history distortion, including the territorial disputes over the Dokdo, is eventually unhelpful not only to our bilateral relationship, but also to the stability and peace in the entire region," said Cho Byung-jae, the ministry's spokesman, at a regular briefing on Thursday (March 29).
    Japan and South Korea have both claimed historical rights to the cluster of rocks which have little obvious economic value but are in the midst of fishing grounds and may sit above valuable deposits of natural gas hydrate.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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