Seoul recalls ambassador over textbook row

Seoul protesters call for a boycott of Japanese cigarettes

By staff and wire reports

Seoul, South Korea -- South Korea has recalled its ambassador to Japan in a row over a controversial history textbook.

Diplomat Choi Sang-ryong will return to Seoul on Tuesday to consult with the government on how it should deal with the textbook issue, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.

Seoul officials say the book distorts the true extent of Japanese atrocities during World War II.

But South Korea says the diplomatic impasse is not expected to last long.

"The recall is temporary and will not continue for a lengthy period of time," Assistant Foreign Minister Lim Sung-joon told reporters.

Seoul was irked when Tokyo's education officials had approved a textbook that it says justifies Japan's invasion of Asia in the early 20th century.

The book fails to mention that Korean and other Asian women were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.

A senior Japanese foreign ministry official reiterated on Monday that the textbook didn't represent the government's view of what happened in the run up to, and during World War II.

"Japan's stance is that expressed by Chief Cabinet Secretary (Yasuo) Fukuda," he said, referring to Fukuda's comments that the textbook did not reflect Japan's official stance.

"Japan would like South Korea to understand along that line."

Strong protests

Still, the textbook had been approved by Japan's Education Ministry after some amendments were made. That move set off strong protests not just from South Korea, but North Korea and China as well.

This didn't keep another Japanese Foreign Ministry official from expressing Tokyo's hopes that the row would not sour the country's relations with its Asian neighbors.

He added that neither the ambassador nor the South Korean government had used the diplomatic term "recall" in relation to Monday's move.

The departure of South Korea's top diplomat from Tokyo was the strongest show of displeasure sparked by the controversial textbook.

South Korean lawmakers on Monday called off an annual gathering with their Japanese counterparts in protest.

There have also been public demonstrators, where protestors burned an effigy of a Japanese man, and Japanese cigarettes.

Militant South Koreans have called for a boycott of Japanese goods, and want the government to reconsider its joint hosting a 2002 World Cup soccer match with Japan.

Japan occupied the Korean peninsula for 35-years, starting in 1910, forcing thousands of Koreans into slave labor.

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo took a turn for the better in 1998 when South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited Japan.

During Kim's visit Japan made its clearest formal apology yet for bringing "great suffering" on Koreans during the colonial years.

CNN's Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae and Reuters contributed to this report.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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S. Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Japan Ministry of Education

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