South Korea said Wednesday that it will not tolerate Japan's continued claim to Seoul's easternmost islets of Dokdo, vowing to take stern measures if Tokyo makes any attempt to undermine its territorial sovereignty.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told lawmakers on Tuesday that Japan will stick to its claim to the islets that lie closer to South Korea than Japan in waters between the two countries.
Seoul's foreign ministry said that it is "deplorable" that Japan has repeated an "absurd" claim to Dokdo even as Tokyo has vowed to make efforts to improve bilateral relations.
"The Korean government will not tolerate any attempt by Japan to hurt Seoul's territorial sovereignty of Dokdo," Noh Kwang-il, spokesman at the foreign ministry, said in a statement.
"Seoul will respond sternly to such an attempt."
Bilateral relations have been at their lowest ebb in recent years due to Japan's attempts to deny its wartime atrocities such as sex slavery and its territorial claims to Dokdo. South Korea keeps a small police detachment on the islets in the East Sea.
South Korea rejects Japan's claim to Dokdo as nonsense because the country regained its independence from Japanese colonial rule and reclaimed sovereignty over its territories, including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)
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