Delegation travels to Koreas to probe claims that textbooks distort history
By Jim Lea, Osan bureau chief
A “peace boat” filled with 521 passengers left Kobe, Japan,
on Sunday and headed for North and South Korea.
The passengers will conduct research on facts that Koreans claim have
been distorted in new Japanese history textbooks, and eventually will visit a U.S. base in
Pyongtaek.
The Koreas Information Service, a South Korean government news
agency, said the boat will dock at Nampo, in North Korea, before coming to Incheon, 15
miles west of Seoul, on Sept. 5.
In South Korea, KIS said, the passengers will visit Seodaemun Prison
in Seoul, a U.S. military base in Pyongtaek and Imjingak, and a pavilion near the southern
edge of the Demilitarized Zone that includes a museum of Korean War relics. On Sept. 6,
some 60 passengers will hold a rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to protest
new Japanese history textbooks that Koreas say distort the history of relations between
Japan and Korea.
KIS did not say which U.S. base in Pyongtaek the group would visit.
Both Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base are located in the city.
The Peace Boat project was established in 1983 by 10 Japanese
university students to visit Asian nations once occupied by Japan, KIS said. Their aim was
to research historical facts that could not be found in Japanese history textbooks.
The project began after the first international furor was raised over
textbooks that described the Japanese military’s invasion of Asian countries as
“advancements,” the news agency said.
Since then, more than 10,000 Japanese have made 33 voyages on
“peace boats,” KIS said.
The news agency said members of the project have been instrumental in
persuading Japanese public schools in not adopting the books South Korea, China and other
Asian countries are protesting in the current controversy.
The ship will leave South Korea on Sept. 8, KIS said.
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