S Korea seeks to wrest islands from Japan

Country to run publicity campaign to pressure Japan to peacefully surrender claim to disputed islands.

South Korea has just opened a centre dedicated to explain the country’s claims to a set of islands also claimed by Japan.

The publicity campaign’s aim is to pressure the Japanese government to peacefully surrender the claim to what Korea calls the Dokdo islands, which Japan calls Takeshima, that lie between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

South Korea protested last Friday against the Japanese government sending for the first time a representative to an annual rally that’s held to promote Japan’s claim to the island chain.

The latest move by South Korea is likely to deepen the rift between the two countries.

Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi reports from Cheonan in South Korea.