SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea said on Sunday it would rename peaks on islands disputed with Japan in an attempt to reassert its sovereignty over the territory after a decades-long dispute flared up again this summer. <\/p>\n
The two main peaks at the rocky outcrops roughly midway between the two nations will be renamed to highlight historical evidence of the South's centuries-long ownership, the land ministry said. <\/p>\n
The row over the Seoul-controlled islands -- called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan -- boiled over in August when the South's President Lee Myung-Bak made a surprise visit to them. <\/p>\n
Tokyo said the trip to the islands, the first ever by a South Korean president, was deliberately provocative. <\/p>\n
One of the two peaks will be named \"Usan\" after its ancient title dating back to the Joseon dynasty that ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910, the ministry said in a statement. <\/p>\n
The other will be named \"Daehan\", South Korea's official name in Korean. The peaks were previously called the East and the West hills. <\/p>\n
\"The move is aimed at firmly asserting our territorial sovereignty over Dokdo,\" said the ministry. <\/p>\n
School textbooks, official maps and major Internet websites would use the new names beginning Monday, it said. <\/p>\n
The recent flare-up prompted Seoul to lash out at Google after the US online search engine changed the name of the islands on its web mapping service. <\/p>\n
Google recently updated its Google Maps and -- on the English-language version -- replaced the name of Dokdo with Liancourt Rocks, a name taken from a French whaling ship that came close to being wrecked on the islets in 1849. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Read more here: <\/p>\n
S.Korea to rename peaks at islands disputed with Japan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea said on Sunday it would rename peaks on islands disputed with Japan in an attempt to reassert its sovereignty over the territory after a decades-long dispute flared up again this summer. Continue reading