A picture of Dokdo in a Japanese middle school social studies textbook sponsored by Japan's Society for History Textbook Reform. The island country's Education Ministry replaced the expression "disputed area" for the Korean islets with "Takeshima, which is illegally occupied by Korea." Seoul Regrets Territorial Claims in OK'd Japanese Textbooks Japan Cannot Be Trusted with Its Own History

The government will summon the Japanese ambassador to lodge a protest on Wednesday, when Korea's Ambassador in Tokyo Ra Jong-il will also visit the Japanese Foreign Ministry to convey Seoul's protests. During a meeting of the two nations’ foreign ministers in Pakistan on Thursday, Korea also intends to protest. The Korean and Chinese foreign ministers reportedly plan to produce a joint message during a meeting scheduled for around the same time.

On April 11, Korea and nine other nations seeking to block Japan’s bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council will gather in New York. The group is led by Korea and Italy, which respectively oppose the entry of Japan and Germany.

Korea also spearheads a “Know the Real Japan” campaign raising awareness of Japanese wartime atrocities in various international bodies. “We will raise the issue of the 'comfort women' in the UN Human Rights Commission’s committee on women’s and children’s human rights,” a Foreign Ministry official said, while North and South Korea on Monday condemned Japan during the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in the Philippines.

President Roh Moo-hyun’s plan for Korea to act as a stabilizer in Northeast Asia away from entrenched camps pitting the U.S. and Japan against North Korea, China and Russia is partly intended to curb growth of Japanese power, as are Korean moves to step up military cooperation with China.

Japan views this as a “problem it cannot ignore,” in the words of the country's Yomiuri Shimbun daily. Depending on the situation, Japan could rope in its close partner, the United States, to put the brakes on Korea’s activities on the international stage.

Tokyo, meanwhile, is going all out to ensure its Security Council seat. It is also reportedly stepping up efforts to get its hands on Korea's Dokdo Islets. "Japan is moving to bring the issue to the International Court of Justice by presenting the islets in the international community as disputed territory, and they’ve set out a road map to do this," a Korean official said. "Korea could get attacked in waves over the long term.”

“It’s very likely that Korea and Japan will be engaged in a full-scale confrontation for a while," said another. "We have to prepare for a drawn-out war.”

(englishnews@chosun.com )