The South Korean government strongly protested Japan's characterization of Dokdo as its territory in a defense white paper released on August 4.
The government stated, "We strongly protest the unjust claim of sovereignty over Dokdo, which is clearly our territory historically, geographically, and under international law, as reiterated in the defense white paper released by the Japanese government, and we urge its immediate retraction."
It added, "We reaffirm that Japan's unjust claims do not affect our sovereignty over Dokdo, and we will respond firmly to any provocations regarding Dokdo from Japan."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to summon officials from the Japanese Embassy in South Korea later in the afternoon.
In the defense white paper announced after a cabinet meeting, the Japanese government stated, "The territorial issues of the Northern Territories (the four Kuril Islands) and Takeshima (the name Japan uses for Dokdo) remain unresolved."
In Japan, the term 'inherent territory' refers to land that has never been foreign territory.
This marks the 22nd consecutive year since 2005 that Japan has made unfounded claims regarding Dokdo in its defense white paper.
Similar to last year, Japan labeled the location of Dokdo as a "territorial issue surrounding Takeshima" on a map titled "Security Environment Surrounding Our Country."
Additionally, on a map titled "Boundary Monitoring in Our Surrounding Sea and Airspace," Japan emphasized its claim to the waters surrounding Dokdo with a blue solid line, and on a map of the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) of our country and neighboring regions, it referred to Dokdo as Takeshima within South Korea's ADIZ.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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