A wooden stele stands in front of the consular section of the Korean Embassy in Tokyo stating Japan's claim to Korea's Dokdo Islets.

Members of rightwing organizations in Japan on Sunday set up a wooden stele in front of the consular section of the Korean Embassy in Tokyo stating Japan's claim to Korea's Dokdo Islets. The stele, which is about 90 cm high, carried the message in black letters on white-painted wood.

Around 9 a.m. Sunday, a staffer from the consular affairs annex "discovered the wooden monument and removed it immediately," an embassy officer said. "It seems that far-right groups set it up in the early morning Sunday, when there were few people passing by and no security guards outside."

Those behind the stunt are also spreading photos and video clips of the stele being set up and faxed them to the press.

They apparently conceived of the idea after Korean protesters set up a statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul representing former "comfort women" forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II. Japanese rightwing groups applied to the local government in Tokyo in February for a permit to set up what it called "Takeshima monuments" -- after the Japanese name for Dokdo -- in front of the Korean Embassy, but no permit was forthcoming.

The embassy believes they set it up in front of the office of Consular Affairs because they found security too tight at the main embassy building.