Japan's Education and Science Ministry on Tuesday approved five elementary school textbooks that represent Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo as Japanese territory. Three of them already made the attribution, but the other two added it only recently. That means all elementary schoolchildren will now be taught that Dokdo belongs to Japan.

The two new textbooks do not go into details but contain maps where they are labeled "Takeshima," the Japanese name. The new texts also show a boundary line between Dokdo and Ulleung Island, making it look as though Dokdo is part of Japan.

Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Tuesday summoned Japanese Ambassador Toshinori Shigeie to lodge an official complaint. "Our government strongly protests against the passage of elementary school textbooks that contain Japan's wrongful claim to Dokdo, which historically, geographically and by international law is our territory, and urges it to take fundamental steps to correct the error," Yu said.