South Korea summoned Japan's ambassador on Wednesday to protest over official approval of textbooks critics say whitewashes Japanese history, while Chinese stores began boycotting Japanese goods over the issue. Japan's deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiken Sugiura called for calm on Wednesday over what he termed historical issues. "The basic (stance) is to develop future-oriented, friendly relations," he told a news conference in Tokyo. The Japanese ambassador in Seoul was summoned to South Korea's foreign ministry a day after Beijing called the Japanese envoy there on the carpet. South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-sik told Japanese Ambassador Toshiyuki Takano that Seoul was deeply concerned about a history book approved for junior high schools and also about a separate set of textbooks in which Tokyo lays claims to disputed islands, a foreign ministry official said. "He demanded an immediate deletion of the part on territorial claims to Tokto," the official said, referring to the disputed islands, also called Takeshima in Japan. Takano listened closely to the South Korean protests and tried to explain his government's position, a Japanese embassy official said by telephone. --More 1807 Local Time 1507 GMT
