Seoul mulls stationing military troops on Dokdo

Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said it is worthwhile to study the idea of deploying military troops on Dokdo to strengthen sovereign control of the nation's easternmost islets in the face of Japan's repeated territorial claims.

South Korea has kept a small police detachment on Dokdo in the East Sea since 1954.

"In reality, it's appropriate to station police, but we should consider the idea of deploying strong military troops there, depending on the situation," Prime Minister Kim told lawmakers on Thursday.

The Defense Ministry said it had no immediate comment.

Kim's comments came weeks after Tokyo approved a set of new middle school textbooks that described Dokdo as Japanese territory.

The move rekindled South Korea's deep resentment against Japan, which ruled the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945 as a colony.

President Lee Myung-bak has vowed that his government will take measures to reinforce effective control of Dokdo to counter Japan's renewed claims to the islets.

South Korea earlier this week announced a plan to construct a long-envisioned maritime science base in waters off Dokdo by the end of next year. (Yonhap)