SEOUL-- South Korea lodged a strong protest Wednesday against Japan for its dispatch of a high-ranking government official to an annual event highlighting Tokyo's claim to Dokdo in the East Sea.
Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia Pacific affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, called in Naoki Kumagai, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy, to deliver the message.
Hideyuki Nakano, a parliamentary vice minister of Japan's Cabinet office, attended the ceremony hosted by the Japanese prefecture of Shimane to lay claim to the rocky outcroppings effectively controlled by South Korea.
In a separate statement, Seo's ministry made clear that Dokdo is "historically, geographically and under international law" that of South Korean territory and called for Japan to halt making "unreasonable claims."
Source: Yonhap News Agency