Japanese Textbooks Reportedly Contain 126 Errors On Historical Accounts of World War II and Territorial Disputes Relating to South Korea, Requests From South Korean Lawmaker to Rectify Error Snubbed

126 errors have been discovered in Japanese textbooks over the past five years that pertain to historical facts about its neighbor South Korea, a lawmaker said Monday. This is allegedly another one of Japan's attempts to distort history in their favor.

New Politics Alliance for Democracy representative Yoo Ki Hong said, "Japan distorted the history of 126 Korean Peninsula-related items in its 108 textbooks for primary, middle and high schools between 2011 and 2015."

Yonhap news writes Monday, one of the misrepresented historical facts include territorial claims over South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo. According to Yoo, the Japanese textbooks are misleading students into believing that the Koreans launched the March 1 Independent Movement in 1919 to express their opposition towards Japan's colonization of the region.

The Northeast Asian History Foundation, which compiled the data and submitted it to Yoo, has called on Tokyo to correct the errors, but such "requests have simply been ignored," he added.

The Wall Street Journal wrote in April that South Korea and China have protested the false historical accounts espoused in textbooks used in Japanese schools.

A review of the textbooks showed that Japan strengthened its claim to islands contested by China and South Korea, as well as softening some descriptions of Japan's atrocities, which include the employment of comfort women who worked in Japanese military brothels during World War II. In this particular case, while Japan acknowledged that some women were forced into working in brothels, they denied that military personnel abducted the women.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry described the textbooks as Japan's means to "distort, minimize and omit historical facts."

China also frowned upon the revisions Japan made in the textbooks. "History is history. It cannot and should not be allowed to be changed willfully," said Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for the Chinese government. "We once again urge the Japanese side to take a highly responsible attitude towards history."

In South Korea, the Northeast Asian History Foundation compiles data and submits it to Yoo Ki Hong. They, too, have called on Japan to rectify the errors but their requests have been ignored.