S. Korea says no territorial dispute with Japan

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Dec. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea expressed regret Friday over Japan's
renewed campaign to teach teenaged students about its controversial claim to
sovereignty over Dokdo, a set of rocky outcroppings effectively controlled by
South Korea.
"Whatever claim the Japanese government makes, our (South Korean) government
stresses the position once again that no territorial dispute exists between the
two sides," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement read in front of a
television camera.
The statement came in response to Japan's education handbook released earlier in
the day that calls for high school teachers to say in classrooms that Japan is
locked in a territorial row with neighboring South Korea over Dokdo.
Dokdo, which lies in the East Sea, has traditionally belonged to South Korea, but
Japan has laid claim to it since its brutal colonization of the Korean Peninsula
from 1910-45.
"The revision of the educational guidelines for high school textbooks injects a
wrong perception about territory into Japan's future generation," Moon said.
He added that Japan's move is regrettable, as it may negatively influence the
development of future-oriented relations between the two nations.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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