Seoul rebukes Tokyo for repeating claim to Dokdo

Taisuke Mibae, the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, enters the Korean Foreign Ministry building in Jung District, central Seoul after being summoned over Tokyo's renewed territorial claim to Dokdo on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

The Korean government on Tuesday strongly protested Japan’s latest claim to the easternmost Dokdo islets made in the latest edition of Tokyo’s annual diplomatic bluebook, while calling for an immediate withdrawal.

Through the bluebook released earlier in the day, Japan repeatedly asserted that the islets, which it calls "Takeshima," are Japanese territory that Korea is "illegally occupying," while also reaffirming Tokyo's rejection of a ruling by the Korean Supreme Court ordering Japanese companies involved in forced labor during Japan's colonial period from 1910 to 1945 to compensate Korean victims.

Presented to Tokyo's cabinet this year by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, the report is released annually around April, containing a record of recent international developments and Japan’s diplomatic activities.

The expression concerning Korea's "illegal" occupation was maintained for the seventh straight year since it first appeared in the 2018 edition. The Japanese government also stated that it “absolutely cannot accept” the Korean Supreme Court’s ruling last year on forced labor compensation.

“The Korean government strongly protests the Japanese government's repeated unfair territorial claims over Dokdo, which is clearly our own territory historically, geographically and under international law, as announced in its diplomatic bluebook released on April 16, and urges Japan to withdraw it immediately,” Korea's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lim Soo-suk, said in a press release.

Lim further added that such claims by Japan have no impact whatsoever on Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo.

Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also summoned Taisuke Mibae, the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in the country, the same day to lodge a protest over the claim to the islets.

While the bluebook reiterated Tokyo's stance on Dokdo, it also emphasized that Japan's relationship with Korea is important, referring to its westerly neighbor as a “partner” for the first time in 14 years in the report.

“We will continue close communication with Korea, an important neighboring country, at various levels in order to expand the scope of connection and cooperation in multiple fields as partners to open a new era,” the diplomatic report read.

“Considering the increasingly stringent security environment in the Indo-Pacific, there has never been a time when closer cooperation between Japan and Korea has been more necessary than it is now,” the report continued. “With the improvement of Korea-Japan relations on track, we will further strengthen cooperation in global tasks as well.”

Japan also noted that cooperation between Korea, Japan and the United States is taking place in numerous areas at multiple levels, from their heads of state to ministers and vice ministers.

Regarding North Korea, the bluebook mentioned Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s pursuit of high-level discussions, including a possible summit with Kim Jong-un, in search of a quick resolution to the issue of Japanese abductees in the North. The report also criticized North Korea for providing weapons to Russia and said Japan was monitoring the possible provision of military support from Moscow to Pyongyang.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]