South Korea lodged a complaint with Japan Friday over Tokyo's claim to the Dokdo islets made in a defense white paper released earlier in the day. Photo by Yonhap
SEOUL, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- South Korea's foreign ministry called in a senior Japanese diplomat to lodge a protest Friday after Tokyo's annual defense white paper renewed claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, officials said.
Lee Sang-ryeol, acting director-general for Asia and Pacific affairs, summoned Taisuke Mibae, the minister for political affairs at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, the ministry said, while the defense ministry summoned Tatsuya Watanabe, a Japanese defense attache, to lodge a complaint.
Earlier in the day, Tokyo released its 2019 defense white paper, in which it renewed the territorial claims. Referring to July's incursion by a Russian warplane into the airspace over Dokdo, the white paper said Japan filed a protest with South Korea for firing warning shots toward the Russian aircraft.
The description is based on the claim that Dokdo is Japanese territory.
In the section on airspace violations and scrambling, the book also said that airspace violations are dealt with by the Air Self-Defense Force based on Article 84 of the Self-Defense Force Act. When put together with the territorial claims over Dokdo, the phrase suggests Japan could scramble fighter jets if the airspace over the islets is violated.
The foreign ministry expressed strong criticism shortly after the release of the white paper.
"The [South Korean] government strongly protests the Japanese government's repeated claim of unfair sovereignty over Dokdo, which is clearly our own territory historically, geographically and by international law, and we urge Tokyo to withdraw the claim immediately," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The foreign ministry said that repeating the "unfair and absurd" claim to Dokdo is not helpful to the South Korea-Japan relationship.
"The government will once again make it clear that the unfair claims of the Japanese government do not affect our sovereignty over Dokdo, the unique territory of the Republic of Korea, and will respond firmly to any provocations by the Japanese government against Dokdo."
Japan has laid claim to the islets in the white paper every year since 2005.
Late last month, South Korea's military conducted drills on and around the Dokdo islets in the East Sea, in a show of Seoul's determination not to back down in an escalating row with Japan over wartime history and trade.
South Korea has maintained effective control of the rocky outcroppings off the east coast with a small police detachment since 1945. Japan has persistently laid claim to Dokdo, drawing strong condemnation from Seoul.
