South Korea's parliament said Monday it has earmarked for next year a reduced budget for globally promoting the country's ownership of its easternmost islets of Dokdo.
According to the National Assembly, a total of 3.47 billion won ($3.1 million) has been allocated to the foreign ministry's 2014 budget to finance archival and legal efforts to back up the country's claim to sovereignty over the easternmost islets that lie about halfway between the two rival nations.
The 2014 budget marks an 18 percent reduction from this year's Dokdo budget of 4.24 billion won.
The cutback comes as the country this year wraps up extra promotion programs launched late last year amid Japan's increased territorial claims to the South Korean islets.
Former President Lee Myung-bak set foot on Dokdo in August 2012 as the first sitting head of South Korea to do so, leading Japan to intensify its efforts to lay claim to the islets that it calls Takeshima.
Amid the intensified territorial disputes, South Korea set aside a bigger-than-usual budget for 2013 in order to finance additional programs, including a website promoting the country's ownership over Dokdo in many foreign languages.
South Korea first allocated in 2003 a separate budget of 250 million won to combat Japan's continuing territorial claims and has steadily increased the amount to reach 2.37 billion won in 2011.
The Dokdo outcroppings, on which South Korea keeps a small police detachment, have been a major source of strain in its relations with Japan.
Last week, the neighbors exchanged barbs over the Japanese Cabinet's release of a public poll over the South Korean islets, which showed that six out of 10 Japanese respondents considered Dokdo to be Japanese territory. (Yonhap News)
