South Korea lodged a strong complaint with Japan on Tuesday over Tokyo's renewed territorial claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in an annual defense white paper.
The defense report, approved by the Cabinet earlier in the day, referred to Dokdo as Japanese "sovereign territory," along with the Kuril Islands controlled by Russia.
It is the 11th straight year that Tokyo has laid claim to Dokdo in the annual paper.
"The territorial issue over our sovereign territory of the Northern Territories and Takeshima still remains unresolved," the paper said, using the Japanese names for the Kuril Islands and Dokdo.
The report also contained maps marking Dokdo as Japanese territory.
The Defense Ministry called in the defense attache Army Col. Nobuhisa Goto from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to deliver a message of protest.
"The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea strongly remonstrates about the 2015 defense white paper which projected our own territory of Dokdo as Japan's territory and marked it as part of Japan's domain on the related map while also drawing an unagreed-upon line for the Exclusive Economic Zone there," the ministry said in a statement.
It "resolutely urges prompt action to correct them and measures not to repeat such unjust behavior," according to the statement.
The ministry said Japan's repeated Dokdo claims will keep the neighbors from pursuing forward-looking development of their military relations, also vowing to respond "determinedly" to Japan's claims and safeguard its sovereignty over the islets "thoroughly."
The Foreign Ministry also issued a statement denouncing the latest report as a "provocation" in a year the two countries mark the 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral ties following Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The renewed claim amounts to "an act denying the history of invasion of the Korean Peninsula of Japan's past imperialism" and Tokyo's own admission that it has an incorrect perception of history, the statement said.
The ministry also said the territorial claim hurts Seoul's efforts to improve bilateral ties.
"Our government will respond firmly to any provocation by Japan with regard to Dokdo, which is clearly our sovereign territory historically, geographically and under international law."
The ministry called in Kenji Kanasugi, a minister at the Japanese Embassy here, to formally lodge a protest with the Japanese government.
Dokdo, which lies closer to South Korea in the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, has been a constant source of tension between the neighbors.
South Korea has kept a small police detachment on the islets since 1954. (Yonhap)
