A school dedicated to teaching the history of South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo has opened in Shanghai, a South Korean professor leading the program said Tuesday.

The so-called "Dokdo School" is aimed at raising awareness of the rocky outcroppings in the East Sea, the subject of a territorial dispute with Japan.

Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Seoul's Sungshin Women's University, said he set up the school in Shanghai following one in New York as part of efforts to expand education about Dokdo to foreigners.

Dokdo School was first set up in 2013 inside Independence Hall in Cheonan, about 90 kilometers south of Seoul. Its first overseas unit opened in New York in October 2014.

Seo said the school plans to offer various education programs so that foreigners can become familiar with the word "Dokdo."

Seo plans to set up more units in London, Paris, and Toronto next year and eventually in 100 major cities over the next five years.

Seo is known for his role in producing advertisements to promote Dokdo. He previously placed a full-page Dokdo ad in the New York Times.

Japan's repeated claims to the islets have long been a key source of tension between the two neighbors. South Korea has maintained a small police detachment on Dokdo since 1954. (Yonhap)