Korea’s Foreign Ministry protests Japan’s claims over Dokdo

Korea’s Foreign Ministry protested Japan’s territorial claims over Dokdo islets in its latest diplomatic blue paper on Tuesday...

Deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Japan in Seoul, Naoki Kumagai, enters the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

Korea’s Foreign Ministry summoned the deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Japan in Seoul, Naoki Kumagai, in protest of Japan’s territorial claims over Dokdo islets in its latest diplomatic blue paper on Tuesday.

“The Korean government strongly protests the Japanese government's repeated and unjust claims of sovereignty over Dokdo, which is clearly Korea's own territory historically, geographically and by international law,” the ministry’s spokesman Lim Soo-suk said in a statement. “The Korean government urges the Japanese government to immediately withdraw such claims.”

In a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi reported what was the 11th edition of Japan’s Diplomatic Blue Paper, published every year.

The Dokdo islets, located in the East Sea and effectively controlled by Korea, are a painful reminder of Japan's imperialistic past and its 1910-45 colonial rule over the peninsula.

Korea denies that a territorial dispute even exists as the Dokdo islets are historically, geographically and under international law an integral part of Korean territory.

Islands called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese are observed during a Korean Air Airbus A380 demonstration flight on June 16, 2011. [AP/YONHAP]

Japan calls the islets Takeshima and claims them as its "inherent territory" in its official documents, including its national security strategy. It has been arguing that Korea is illegally occupying the islets in its diplomatic blue papers issued since 2018.

The publication, though repeated annually every April or May, comes at a time this year after the two nations recently welcomed a thaw in their relations with a historic visit by the president of Korea to Japan for a bilateral summit, the first to take place in 12 years, last month.

Ties between Korea and Japan had dipped to a low in recent years over several diplomatic spats on the issues of forced labor, trade and security intelligence.

“The Japanese government should be clearly aware that repeating unreasonable claims about Dokdo is not helpful in building forward-looking Korea-Japan relations,” Lim said.

The diplomatic blue paper issued by Japan for 2023 referred to the recent leaders' summit with Korea, mentioning bilateral efforts to resolve the forced labor issue. It also alluded to an announcement by the Korean Foreign Ministry about establishing a fund that would receive donations from Korean companies to compensate the forced labor victims, in place of the Japanese companies sued by the victims.

Hayashi in making an announcement on the blue paper during the cabinet meeting also reportedly said the Japanese government viewed the recent decision by the Korean government positively.

He did not comment, however, on inherting the spirit of apology and reflection of its past, an expression that was reportedly used by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his summit meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeol last month. "I hope that the Japanese government will continue to uphold the spirit of the Kim Dae-jung-Obuchi Joint Declaration, which contains Japan's deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its colonial occupation [of Korea], wherein lies the root of forced labor issue," Lim said in the press conference on Tuesday, adding that this would also pertain to Japan's actions when it comes to addressing the issue of so-called comfort women, or victims of Japanese wartime sexual slavery.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]