By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

An association of South Korean parents in New York pledged Thursday that it would push for a campaign to obtain signatures from local representatives over the usage of the Korean name of Dokdo, a group of South Korean islets in the East Sea, in history textbooks of New York public schools.

The association said it planned to send the list of signatures, along with an official letter calling for using both the Korean name and Japanese one of Takeshima to President Barack Obama, the U.S. education minister and a local education affairs chief, among others.

The move came after it had been belatedly found that Japan's consulate general in New York sent a letter in February to a local superintendent of educational affairs, opposing the dual use of the name for the islets, according to Seoul's Yonhap News agency.

The Japanese consular general claimed in the letter that the South Korean local community's argument on using both Korean and Japanese names for the Dokdo islets was ``groundless'' from the perspective of history, saying Takeshima is the globally recognized official name, it reported.

``South Korea has made efforts to correct Japan's repeated attempts to distort history. It's like the thief turns on the master with a club,'' an official of the association was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

``Our association will push ahead with a legitimate campaign on the Dokdo naming issue, responding to the Japanese government's secretive lobbying scheme.''

An official at the South Korean consular general office in New York said it would consult with the Seoul government on responses to Japan's latest move and come up with necessary countermeasures.

Japan has stepped up its claim to Dokdo in recent years. Last July, it renewed this in an educational handbook for teachers, prompting Seoul to recall its ambassador.

Located roughly halfway between South Korea and Japan in the East Sea, the rocky islets have been at the center of a long-running row between the two neighboring countries. The area surrounding the islets is believed to be rich in fishing and undersea resources.

The islets were annexed by Japan along with the Korean Peninsula in 1910, but Tokyo claims its territorial rights to the islets were declared five years before the start of Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945. Seoul has stationed a 50-strong police contingent on Dokdo since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War to reinforce its ownership.

Controversy erupted last year after a U.S. government agency changed Dokdo's status from South Korean territory to ``undesignated sovereignty'' on its Web site.

But the agency soon reinstated Dokdo as Korean territory after then U.S President George W. Bush ordered a review.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr