"We have to be truthful about history," Annan said during an interview with Asian journalists at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
The interview came ahead of Annan's visit to Seoul from May 14 to 16 at the invitation of the South Korean government. Seoul is the first leg of an Asian tour that will also include Japan, China, Vietnam and Thailand.
"We need to educate the younger generations of what went wrong in the past and get them to understand, so when they assume leadership they won't repeat the mistakes that we made," Annan said.
The Presidents of South Korea and China have boycotted talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi since last year, citing the Japanese leader's repeated visits to a war shrine in Tokyo and his government's continuing attempts to distort history in school textbooks.
"We should have good history books that tell the story of our nation and our past honestly and clearly," Annan said.
QUOTE(supapimp @ May 12 2006, 12:36 PM) [snapback]1842581[/snapback]
The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has underlined the importance of teaching correct history to the younger generations, indicating he wants to see "harmonious" relations between Japan and its neighbors; relations soured due to Tokyo's wrong interpretation of history.
"We have to be truthful about history," Annan said during an interview with Asian journalists at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
The interview came ahead of Annan's visit to Seoul from May 14 to 16 at the invitation of the South Korean government. Seoul is the first leg of an Asian tour that will also include Japan, China, Vietnam and Thailand.
"We need to educate the younger generations of what went wrong in the past and get them to understand, so when they assume leadership they won't repeat the mistakes that we made," Annan said.
The Presidents of South Korea and China have boycotted talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi since last year, citing the Japanese leader's repeated visits to a war shrine in Tokyo and his government's continuing attempts to distort history in school textbooks.
"We should have good history books that tell the story of our nation and our past honestly and clearly," Annan said.
http://korea.net/News/News/NewsView.asp?se..._no=20060512003
