South Korea has strongly protested a Japanese prefectural event regarding the disputed Takeshima islands, known as Dokdo in Korea. The foreign ministry summoned a top Japanese diplomat in Seoul and called for the immediate abolition of the ceremony. The islets have long been a source of tension between the neighboring countries.
On Sunday, South Korea's foreign ministry issued a strong objection to the 'Takeshima Day' event organized by Shimane prefecture in Japan. The ceremony, attended by a senior Japanese government official, was described by Seoul as an unjust assertion of sovereignty over its territory, the islets known as Dokdo.
In its statement, the ministry asserted, 'Dokdo is clearly South Korea's sovereign territory historically, geographically and under international law,' and urged Japan to abandon its groundless claims and face history with humility. A top Japanese diplomat was summoned to the ministry building in Seoul to receive the formal protest.
The tiny islets, called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea—which controls them—have been a longstanding source of tension between the neighbors. Relations remain strained by disputes rooted in Japan's colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Japan sent a vice-minister from the Cabinet Office to the event, not a cabinet minister. Japan's foreign ministry had no one available to comment on Sunday, and a call to the Prime Minister's Office went unanswered.
Seoul has repeatedly protested Japan's territorial claims, including a complaint on Friday over remarks by Japan's foreign minister in a parliamentary address asserting Tokyo's sovereignty. The area features fertile fishing grounds and may hold vast deposits of natural gas hydrate potentially worth billions of dollars, according to Seoul.
