S. Korea-Japan Ties Set to Sour on Dokdo Handbook

Relations between South Korea and Japan will be put to a crucial test Monday, when Tokyo reveals its decision on whether to describe Dokdo, a set of South Korean-controlled islets in the East Sea, as its territory in an educational handbook.

The Japanese government plans to release its revised educational guidelines for teachers at middle schools in the afternoon.

"We are keeping a close eye on Japan's move," Yonhap News quoted South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young as saying. "We are preparing for countermeasures."

He expressed hope that Japan will not act in a way to harm Seoul-Tokyo ties.

The two neighboring countries have long been at odds over Dokdo, a pair of rocky outcroppings in the East Sea. South Korea maintains a small coast guard unit in a show of its effective control of Dokdo but Japan claims sovereignty over the territory.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has sought to improve ties between the two sides despite the territorial issue and other disputes over their shared history, especially Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45.

South Korean officials view Japan's upcoming decision as a litmus test of its sincerity on relations with Seoul.

"The ownership of Dokdo is not a contentious issue," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said in a press briefing Sunday, adding that the islets clearly belong to South Korea.

A senior Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying, "If Japan makes a unfortunate decision, it would cause a wave of anti-Japanese sentiment again here."