This year's joint Japan-South Korea naval exercise was to have been the second since 1999. The two countries have drawn closer, partly because of the perceived threat from communist North Korea. The decision to call off this year's exercise came after Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo summoned Japan's ambassador, Terusuke Terada, to officially demand revisions of eight junior high school textbooks approved in April. Han gave Terada a document detailing Seoul's demands for changes of 35 controversial passages in the eight books, including 25 passages in one book alone. The eight books, especially one written by nationalist scholars, have drawn sharp criticism from South Korea, China and other Asian countries which suffered under Japan's militaristic expansion in the first half of the 20th century.
Anger is particularly high in South Korea.
The Korean peninsula was a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945. During that period, Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names and banned from using their own language in schools. North Korea has accused Tokyo of trying to evade its historical responsibility. The Seoul government said the book written by nationalist scholars fails to mention many atrocities, including the use of tens of thousands of Korean women as prostitutes for Japan's World War II soldiers. Have your say Richard Wilkins entertainment news.