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South Korean protesters held an anti-Japanese rally on Friday (July 18) prompted by Tokyo's new claim to a group of rocky islets which is also claimed by Seoul. A small group of conservative protesters gathered in downtown Seoul and vented their anger at Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, burning a picture of him and demanding the Japanese government withdraw the claim. "We strongly denounce the thoughtless words hurting the self-esteem of the South Koreans. We're also planning to condemn Fukuda with careful and long-term plans in terms of international law," said protester Kwon Byung-chan. Japan on Monday (July 14) renewed territorial claims over desolate islands claimed by both countries but controlled by South Korea, triggering official complaints from Seoul. South Korea's Foreign Ministry said there was no plan for its minister Yu Myung-hwan to meet Japan's Masahiko Komura at the Asian forum in Singapore. South Korean ambassador to Japan, Kwon Chul-hyun, returned to Seoul on Tuesday (July 15) night after the government recalled him from Tokyo to protest Japan's decision to write about the long-standing island dispute in school teaching guides. The Japanese government said it had informed Seoul that Tokyo would refer in a middle school teaching guide to the islands as Japanese territory. The document for teachers and textbook publishers, though non-binding, will likely influence classroom teaching and textbook contents, an official from Japan's education ministry said. The islets dispute is one of a number of long-running territorial rows involving Japan and its neighbours. Last month a row over ownership of another group of tiny islands called the Senkaku isles in Japan, the Diaoyu in China and the Tiaoyutai in Taiwan, flared up when a Japanese coast guard vessel collided with a Taiwan fishing boat, sinking it and injuring one person. In 2005, thousands of Chinese took to the streets to protest what they said was Japan's whitewashing of its World War Two history in schoolbooks.