Dokdo spat continues as Tokyo rejects Seoul's protests

Japan and Korea continue to engage in tit-for-tat arguments over territorial claims to the Dokdo islets after Japan’s publication of its diplomatic paper sparked problems earlier this week. Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, said...

Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, speaks with the press in Tokyo on Wednesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Japan and Korea continue to engage in tit-for-tat arguments over territorial claims to the Dokdo islets after Japan’s publication of its diplomatic paper sparked problems earlier this week.

Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, said Wednesday the country cannot accept the Korean government's statement a day earlier protesting claims in the Japanese diplomatic blue paper.

“I will not elaborate on the statement from South Korea on Takeshima,” said Matsuno in a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, referring to the islets by their Japanese name. “Although there was some opposition and push back from South Korea, we have pushed back against such allegations.”

A Korean Foreign Ministry official responded to Matsuno’s statement immediately with a statement explaining that the Dokdo islets are clearly Korean territory "historically, geographically, and under international law.”

The official added that the Korean government will respond “strongly and sternly to any unreasonable claims made by Japan” regarding the islets.

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.

The Dokdo islets, seen 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.

In recent diplomatic blue papers, Tokyo has argued that Korea illegally occupies the islets, a stance it repeated in its latest paper announced by Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during a cabinet meeting Tuesday.

In protest, Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at Korea's Foreign Ministry, summoned Tuesday the deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Japan in Seoul, Naoki Kumagai. The ministry’s spokesman also issued a statement urging the Japanese government to immediately withdraw the claims on the same day.

In the meeting, Seo was said to have also protested the lack of language in the diplomatic blue paper reflecting the spirit of contrition and reflection regarding Japan’s past.

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

In announcing the blue paper during the cabinet meeting, Hayashi said the Japanese government viewed positively the recent decision by the Korean government to resolve the forced labor issue but did not comment on inheriting the spirit of contrition and reflection, an expression that was reportedly used by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol last month.

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 last month, the first to take place in 12 years.

The summit meeting was organized after the Korean government’s reconciliatory gesture in March in proposing a solution to the forced labor issue, a sensitive issue between the two countries that was the source of their deterioration of ties in recent years.

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