Korea will increase the amount of references to Dokdo in school textbooks to counter Japan's repeated territorial claim to the islets, Education Minister Ahn Byong-man told a parliamentary committee on Monday. "The ministry is planning to establish a new curriculum and new guidelines that require publishers to include more detailed descriptions of Dokdo in the textbooks," Ahn said.

He said references to Korea's ownership of Dokdo will be bolstered in all educational texts. Currently such references are limited to teacher's manuals. Amended versions of textbooks in eight subjects, including social studies, history, politics and geography, will detail Dokdo's history to refute Japan's territorial claims.

"We decided to strengthen education about Dokdo because the Japanese government is continuing its unjustified territorial claims over the islets by deciding in late March to include them in all of its elementary texts," Ahn said.