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Japan reaffirms claim to disputed ‘Dokdo’ islands

Japan has reaffirmed its claim to a group of islands controlled by South Korea, in a move which could damage efforts to improve relations, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.

The agency said Tokyo has formally told Seoul of its plan to describe the Dokdo Islands as Japanese territory in educational handbooks.

“We have been informed of the decision,” it quoted an unidentified senior foreign ministry official as saying. “The Japanese government is expected to soon announce the decision.”

The foreign ministry could not immediately confirm the report.

South Korea on Sunday renewed its own claim to the islands in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) known as Takeshima in Japan. They have long been an irritant in relations despite efforts by new South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to improve ties with Seoul’s former colonial master.

The islands are part of South Korean territory “historically, geographically and under international law,” Lee’s spokesman said on Sunday.

Lee met Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on the sidelines of a G8 summit in Hokkaido last week and asked him not to describe the islands as Japanese territory in the educational document.

The document in question will supplement Japan’s new educational guidelines for social studies at junior high schools from the 2012 school year.

South Korea stations a small unit of maritime police on the rugged and treeless islands which cover a total area of 18.7 hectares.

Japan claimed the islands in 1905 after winning a war with Russia in the region. It went on to annex the entire Korean peninsula from 1910 until its 1945 defeat in World War II.
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