In addition to the Diaoyu Islands, Japan's revised teaching guidelines also claim the Dokdo Islands as their own, despite disputes from South Korea.

In response, Seoul has summoned Japan's ambassador Koro Bessho to the Foreign Ministry where South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun expressed strong protest against the move.

Kim said the Japanese Education Ministry's inclusion of such provocative claims in its textbooks reflects its ill intent. The disputed islets are called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. They are controlled by South Korea but claimed by Japan.

"Our government strongly condemns Japan's action of modifying its textbooks, and we ask Japan to immediately withdraw it. If Japan doesn't respond, we will take firm counter-measures. When the Japanese government constantly makes false claims on the Dokdo Islands, which was the first territory to be seized during Japan's colonization, and teaches this to the next generation, it clearly shows that Japan still cannot escape its bad habit of distorting history and its past colonization," said Cho Tai-Young, Spokesman of South Korean Foreign Ministry.