Government Summons Japanese Ambassador, Demands Immediate Withdrawal of Japan's Defense White Paper Claiming Sovereignty over Dokdo

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] On the 22nd, the government immediately urged Japan to retract its repeated claim of sovereignty over Dokdo in this year's Defense White Paper.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a spokesperson's statement on the same day, saying, "We strongly protest the Japanese government's repeated unjust claim of sovereignty over Dokdo, which is our inherent territory historically, geographically, and under international law, through the Defense White Paper."

The Ministry emphasized, "The Japanese government should clearly realize that repeating unjust claims over Dokdo does not help in building a future-oriented Korea-Japan relationship."

It added, "We reaffirm that Japan's unjust claims have no effect on our sovereignty over Dokdo, which is the inherent territory of the Republic of Korea, and we declare that we will respond firmly to any provocations regarding Dokdo."

Seo Min-jung, Acting Director General (Counselor) of the Asia-Pacific Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, summoned Hayashi Makoto, Charg? d'Affaires ad interim (Political Minister) of the Embassy of Japan in Korea, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the same day.

It was reported that Counselor Seo protested Japan's repeated groundless sovereignty claims over Dokdo and demanded an immediate retraction during the meeting.

Earlier that day, the Japanese government adopted the 2022 edition of the Defense White Paper on Japan's defense at the Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.

In this year's White Paper, Japan described the security environment around its territory, stating, "The Northern Territories (the Japanese term for the four Kuril Islands) and Takeshima (the name Japan claims for Dokdo) territorial issues, which are our country's inherent territories, still remain unresolved."

This is the 18th consecutive year since 2005 that Japan's Defense White Paper has included a claim of sovereignty over Dokdo.

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