Seoul to rename peaks to assert claim to disputed islands

South Korea said on Sunday it would rename peaks on islands disputed with Japan in an attempt to reassert its sovereignty over the territory after a decades-long dispute flared up again this summer.

The two main peaks at the rocky outcrops roughly midway between the two nations will be renamed to highlight historical evidence of the South’s centuries-long ownership, the land ministry said.

The row over the Seoul-controlled islands – called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan – boiled over in August when the South’s President Lee Myung-bak made a surprise visit to them.

Tokyo said the trip to the islands, the first ever by a South Korean president, was deliberately provocative.