(LEAD) S. Korea protest Japan's renewed claim to Dokdo in textbooks

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SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea strongly protested Japan's renewed claim to the easternmost islets of Dokdo on Friday in its recently authorized textbooks, calling on Tokyo to take immediate corrective measures.

The foreign ministry called in Hideo Suzuki, a minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to lodge its official protest. Chung Byung-won, director-general handling Northeast Asian affairs, delivered Seoul's position to the Japanese diplomat.

"The government strongly protests Japan for approving high school textbooks again that contain its government's unjustified claim to our sovereign territory of Dokdo and other distorted historical perceptions," the ministry said in a statement. "We demand immediate corrective measures."

"The Japanese government should realize that the victims of its wrong historical perceptions will be none other than its own growing generations. Having that in mind, it should show a responsible stance for the education of its next generations," it added.

Earlier in the day, Japan's education ministry announced the list of its newly authorized textbooks to be used from April next year for high school sophomores.

Of the 24 newly approved social studies textbooks, 19, or nearly 80 percent, claim that Dokdo is Japan's territory. Some state that South Korea is illegally occupying Dokdo, called Takeshima in Japan.

The ratio is much higher than four years ago when 37 out of 60 social studies textbooks, or 61.7 percent, contained such a claim.

kokobj@yna.co.kr
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