Relations between South Korea and Japan have strained recently over a territorial dispute over a group of 33 small islets.

Both countries claimed sovereignty over the islets located some 89 km southeast to the South Korean Uleung Island in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) and 160 km northwest to Japan's Oki Island. The islets are called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Their quarrel over the rocky islets escalated as Japan's Shimane Prefecture approved a bill designating Feb. 22 of every year as "Takeshima Day" on Wednesday.

South Korea insists that the Dokdo islets have been listed as its territory in history literature since the fifth century. And Seoul has deployed coast police on the islets since 1954.

Meanwhile, Japan claims that the islets have been its territory since the 17th century, as written in literature.

South Korea calls Dokdo its territory, the address of which is 1-37 Mountains, Dokdo-ri, Uleung-eup, Uleung County, North Gyeongsang Province.

The rocky islets are made up mostly of volcanic rocks and rugged land.

In order to prove the islets' nationality, a South Korean couple and a group of 34 guard police have been stationed on the otherwise uninhabited islets.

The couple, Kim Seong-do and Kim Sin-yeol, have been living on the islets since Nov. 17, 1991. Now, they do fishing every day.

They are not the first residents of Dokdo. South Korean citizen Choi Jong-deok moved to the islets in March 1965 and died there onSept. 23, 1987.

After decades of construction, now the islets have a harbor, a pier, alleys, water purifiers and reservoirs.

The South Korean government has also dispatched a group of police officers to protect the islets and first built a lighthouse on the islets in 1954. Now two guard-posts, a communications towerand a small police camp have been built on the islets.

The ascription of the islets has a very long and complicated history. According to South Korean historians, it was in AD 512 when Uleung Island and Dokdo were incorporated into the Silla Dynasty.

Since then, Dokdo had been the territory of the successive Korean dynasties, named respectively as Sambongdo, Jasando and Gajido in different times.

However, a Japanese record shows that some Japanese fishermen found the islets in 1693 and reported their finding to the then Japanese government.

During World War I, Japan tried to annex the Korean Peninsula by various means. On Feb. 22, 1905, Japan's Shimane Prefecture issued a notice which claimed sovereignty over the islets.

Japan annexed Korea on Aug. 22, 1910, and claimed sovereignty over Dokdo as well.

After shaking itself free from the Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the Korean people were allowed to do academic research on Dokdo. In January 1952, then South Korean President Lee Seung-man issued a declaration claiming sovereignty over Dokdo.

Currently, the South Korean government controls the islets and restricts access to them by tourists and media.

Meanwhile, South Korean activists have urged their government to declare a "Dokdo Day" on Oct. 25 -- the date on which South Korea officially declared sovereignty over the islets in 1900.

Source: Xinhua