South Korean civic groups staged a series of rallies Monday, denouncing what Japan has designated as a day to promote its claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.

Over 100 South Koreans who belong to civic groups promoting South Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo held a joint press conference in front of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul, urging Tokyo to scrap "Takeshima Day" and Japanese textbooks that distort history. 

In 2005, Japan's Shimane Prefecture, which claims administrative sovereignty over the islets, designated Feb. 22 as a day to promote Takeshima, the Japanese name for Dokdo. Since then, Shimane has hosted various programs to strengthen its territorial claims on the islets on this day.

The civic groups also demanded the South Korean government nullify the 1998 fisheries agreement signed by Seoul and Tokyo, which designated a part of the East Sea where the two countries' Exclusive Economic Zones overlap each other as a joint fishing zone. 

Later on the day, other civic groups held similar press conferences, condemning Japan for attempting to infringe upon South Korea's sovereignty over the territory.

The rocky outcroppings, which lie in waters between the two countries, have been at the center of a diplomatic row since Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in the early part of the 20th century.

South Korea has rejected Japan's claim to Dokdo since the country regained its independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and reclaimed sovereignty over all its territories, including Dokdo. (Yonhap)