Japan's Defense White Paper Again Claims 'Dokdo Sovereignty'... Ministry of National Defense Summons Japanese Military Attach? for Strong Protest

Ministry of National Defense "Will Firmly Respond to Attempts to Undermine Dokdo Sovereignty"... Protests Against Unilateral Japanese Patrol Aircraft and GSOMIA Issue Description

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 14th, the Ministry of National Defense strongly protested by summoning the Defense Attach? of the Japanese Embassy in Korea over Japan's Defense White Paper, which reiterated its territorial claim to Dokdo. On the same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also summoned the Charg? d'Affaires of the Japanese Embassy in Korea to strongly protest and demanded an immediate withdrawal.

Lee Won-ik, Director of International Policy at the Ministry of National Defense, summoned Colonel Takashi Matsumoto of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the Defense Attach? in Korea, to the Ministry of National Defense in the afternoon and strongly protested against the distorted and unilateral claims related to Japan's territorial claim to Dokdo included in this year's Defense White Paper, the investigation regarding the Japanese patrol aircraft, and the termination of the Korea-Japan General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).

The Ministry of National Defense stated that Director Lee sternly urged Japan to immediately correct the contents included in the Defense White Paper and to cease such actions in the future. The Ministry also added that through Director Lee, it strongly protested Japan's repeated unjust territorial claims over Dokdo, which is Korea's inherent territory historically, geographically, and under international law, and declared that it would firmly respond to any attempts to undermine Korea's territorial sovereignty over Dokdo.

Regarding the issue of the Japanese patrol aircraft, the Ministry rebutted that Japan is repeating baseless unilateral claims. The Ministry explained, "They are repeatedly making baseless unilateral claims that our naval vessels targeted the Japanese patrol aircraft with radar," and expressed deep regret over Japan's continued negative description that shifts responsibility for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's non-participation in the 2018 International Fleet Review onto Korea, strongly demanding correction.

Regarding the Korea-Japan GSOMIA, the Ministry stated, "Our government made the decision to suspend the effect of the notification to terminate GSOMIA in order to proactively resolve pending issues between the two countries," and "sternly urged Japan to make sincere efforts to restore mutual trust between the two countries."

Earlier, the Japanese government adopted this year's Defense White Paper at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. This Defense White Paper described the security environment around Japan and, as in the previous year, stated that "the territorial issues of the Northern Territories and Takeshima (the Japanese name for Dokdo), which are Japan's inherent territories, remain unresolved." This marks the 16th consecutive year that the same content has been repeated.

Furthermore, the Defense White Paper prepared by the Japanese Ministry of Defense relatively downgraded defense cooperation between Korea and Japan. It reflected the strained Korea-Japan relations directly in the Defense White Paper. After elaborately explaining the cooperative relationship between the United States and Japan, the White Paper listed Korea fourth in the order of security and defense cooperation with other countries, following Australia, India, and ASEAN. Until 2018, the Ministry of Defense described security and defense cooperation in the order of Australia, Korea, and India, but last year Korea was pushed down in priority, and this year it was placed in the same order.

The Defense White Paper also adopted a sparse description method regarding Korea-Japan security and defense cooperation. Whereas previously it stated, "We will promote defense cooperation with Korea in a wide range of fields and strive to establish a foundation for solidarity," this time it only mentioned that the two countries face issues such as North Korea's nuclear and missile problems.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.