Japan White Paper Again Claims Sovereignty over Dokdo... Ministry of National Defense Summons Military Attach? to Protest

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter]Japan has repeatedly asserted its sovereignty over Dokdo in its Defense White Paper, prompting the Ministry of National Defense to summon the Defense Attach? of the Japanese Embassy in Korea to lodge a protest.

On the 13th, Lee Kyung-gu, Deputy Director of International Policy at the Ministry of National Defense (Army Brigadier General), summoned Colonel Takashi Matsumoto of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the Japanese Defense Attach? in Korea, to the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to strongly protest Japan's unilateral description of the unjust claim of sovereignty over Dokdo and related issues in the 2021 Defense White Paper. He also sternly urged immediate correction and the cessation of such actions in the future.

The Deputy Director declared, "We will firmly respond to any provocations that undermine our sovereignty over Dokdo," the Ministry of National Defense reported.

The Ministry also expressed deep regret over Japan's repeated unilateral claims that our naval vessels conducted radar surveillance on Japanese patrol aircraft and its continued negative descriptions, such as shifting responsibility to South Korea for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's non-participation in the 2018 Republic of Korea Navy International Fleet Review. The Ministry strongly demanded immediate correction of these contents.

Earlier that morning, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi reported the 2021 edition of the Defense White Paper at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

The Ministry of Defense stated that the White Paper, which mainly describes Japan's security environment from April last year to May this year, explicitly mentions that "the territorial issues of our country’s (Japan’s) inherent territories, the Northern Territories (the Japanese term for the four Kuril Islands) and Takeshima (the Japanese name for Dokdo), remain unresolved."

Japan has claimed sovereignty over Dokdo through its Defense White Papers, which have been published annually since 1976 after starting in 1970, for 17 consecutive years since the Koizumi Junichiro Cabinet in 2005.

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