Koreans march over 'distorted' textbook

Earlier in March, some 70 people staged a protest against the textbooks

SEOUL, South Korea -- Hundreds of members of civic groups have marched in major cities, demanding Japan revise new history textbooks that Koreans say whitewash wartime atrocities by the Japanese military.

"Down with the Japanese government which distorts history!" about 1,000 protesters chanted in a downtown Seoul park.

They later marched through the center of Seoul, waving signs denouncing the Japanese government for approving eight junior high school history textbooks scheduled to be made available to teachers in Japan beginning next year.

South Korea, China and other Asian countries were especially irate over a textbook written by a group of Japanese nationalist scholars who defend Japan's wartime role.

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The book reportedly does not mention Korean and other Asian women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II.

"We want an apology and reparation from the Japanese government!" several former sex slaves shouted during a rally in front of the Japanese Embassy.

The demonstrators carried a large Korean flag. One carried a sign with the slogan, "Let's not buy or use Japanese products."

Police strengthened security around the embassy, and no clashes were reported.

Similar protest rallies were held in at least two provincial cities, said Yonhap, South Korea's national news agency.

Seoul demanded 35 specific revisions to Japanese textbooks last week.

No change

The Tokyo government has yet to respond, but Japanese politicians and officials have repeatedly said that no changes could be contemplated unless the textbooks contained clear mistakes.

Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910 to 1945, and anti-Japanese sentiment continues to run deep in South Korea.

Officials at South Korea's Foreign Ministry said they called in Katoru Yoshinori, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, on Tuesday and expressed their concern over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's stated plans to visit Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

The shrine honors Japan's fallen soldiers, including World War II war criminals. Past visits by senior Japanese leaders have infuriated China, South Korea and other countries that were the targets of Japanese aggression.

Koizumi promised to visit the shrine on August 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.