Seoul: The foreign ministry on Sunday called in a Japanese diplomat to lodge a protest over an annual regional event in Japan claiming sovereignty over South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo. The ministry summoned Hirotaka Matsuo, deputy head of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to strongly protest the event that took place in Japan's western Shimane Prefecture.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the ministry spokesperson Park Il stated, "(We) once again sternly urge for the immediate scrapping of the event. Dokdo is clearly an integral part of our territory in terms of history, geography and international law." Park urged Tokyo to immediately stop its unjustified claims to the rocky islets in the East Sea and to face up to history in a humble manner.

Dokdo has long been a recurring source of tension between South Korea and Japan. Tokyo continues to assert sovereignty claims in its policy papers, public statements, and school textbooks. Since its liberation from Japan in 1945, South Korea has maintained a small police detachment on Dokdo, known as Takeshima in Japan.