Team of Chinese, Japanese and Korean historians publish joint modern history
Two months after another flare-up in the on-going row over Japanese history textbooks, historians from China, Japan and South Korea yesterday released what they described as a combined 'truthful' version of the region's modern past.
The book, entitled The Modern History of Three Countries in East Asia, is the first effort of its kind undertaken by quasi or non-governmental bodies and was simultaneously published in the three countries.
It traces the history of each country from the 19th century until the present and includes sections on Japan's invasion of China and Korea.
The project was launched in 2002 in response to the publication of The New History Textbook by Japanese nationalist historians and scholars accused by China of 'whitewashing' their country's militaristic past.
More than 40 historians from the three countries joined forces to produce the tome so that their nations' youth could gain an understanding of 'historical truth'.
