South Korea lodges protest with Japan over disputed islets

ISTANBUL

South Korea strongly protested Friday after Japan’s top diplomat renewed territorial claims to disputed islets located between the two countries, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The islets are known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Seoul lodged a formal protest with the Japanese Embassy after Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi referred to the islets by their Japanese name, Takeshima, and described them as part of Japanese territory during a parliamentary speech earlier in the day.

He also pledged a firm government response on the issue, drawing swift objections from South Korea.

"The (South Korean) government strongly protests Japan's reiteration of its unjust territorial claim to Dokdo in the foreign minister's parliamentary speech and urges its immediate retraction," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that Japan’s claim has no bearing on South Korea’s sovereignty over the islets and pledged to take "resolution action" against such "provocations."

"Dokdo is clearly our own territory historically, geographically and under international law and Japan should realize that repeating its unjust claim does not help effort to build future-oriented South Korea-Japan relations," the ministry said.

Dokdo has long remained a sensitive issue between the two countries, as Japan continues to assert sovereignty in policy papers, public statements and school textbooks.

South Korea maintains a small police detachment on the islets, effectively exercising control over them.