Korea calls in Japanese Embassy official over renewed territorial claim to Dokdo

The foreign ministry on Friday called in a senior official at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul over Tokyo's renewed territorial claim to Korea's easternmost islets, Dokdo. Kim Sang-hoon, director general for Asia-Pacific affairs, lodged a complaint with Hirotaka Matsuo, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy, who was summoned to the foreign ministry. Earlier in the day, Japan's foreign ministry published this year's Diplomatic Bluebook, an annual report on the country's foreign policy and activities, in which it renewed its territorial claim to Dokdo. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi submitted the bluebook to a Cabinet meeting earlier Friday, in which Japan claimed Dokdo as its territory and accused Korea of continuing "illegal occupation" of the islets by stationing security forces. Dokdo has long been a recurring source of tension between the two neighbors, as Tokyo continues to make the sovereignty claims in its policy papers, public statements and school textbooks. Korea maintains a small police detachment on the islets, effectively controlling them.

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