SEOUL: South Korea yesterday protested to Japan's government over its approval of another history textbook seen by Seoul as whitewashing Tokyo's brutal wartime past.

"The government strongly protests that the Japanese government Thursday approved the history textbook which justifies and beautifies past wrongdoings based on false historical perception," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The government calls for a fundamental correction to this."

The textbook published will be available to middle schools from next year until 2011. Seoul officials say it glosses over Japan's invasions of Korea and other Asian states before and during World War II. The textbook also claims that ancient Korea was once ruled by Japan.