Dozens of South Koreans held a protest across the Japanese embassy in central Seoul today to condemn Japan's distortion of history and sovereignty claims over a set of islets at the center of a long-running territorial dispute between the two neighbors. Amid police presence, protesters chanted anti-Japan slogans and demanded Japan abandon its ownership claims to the disputed islets called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The demonstrators strongly criticized Japan's proposal to take the issue of the Seoul-controlled islands to an international court. The news came out earlier in the day that Japan wanted South Korea to go to the International Court of Justice for a ruling on the disputed islets. South Korea dismissed the proposal.

The rocky islets lying about halfway between the two countries have long been a source of diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Tokyo. The tensions have flared recently after South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak last week visited the islets, becoming the first South Korean leader to set foot there.