Seoul pumps up PR on claim to tiny island

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SEOUL, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- South Korea officials say they have begun a public relations campaign to counter claims by Japan that it owns a tiny island South Koreas calls Dokdo.

A 33-page booklet titled "Dokdo, Korea's Beautiful Island," has been distributed to some 160 diplomatic missions around the world, Yonhap News Agency reported Friday.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited Dokdo on Aug. 10, raising diplomatic tensions with Japan, which ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-45.

The English-language booklet claims Japan surrendered its claim to the island following the country's defeat in World War II. The booklet cites geographic recognition and historical evidence that Japan's continued claim to Dokdo is "nonsensical."

South Korean civilians live on the island, which maintains a small detachment of South Korean police, the booklet says.