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Korean gov't lodges strong complaint with Japanese diplomat over Tokyo's expanded Dokdo exhibit

Published: 14 Nov. 2025, 19:24

LIM JEONG-WON
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Hirotaka Matsuo, minister of the Japanese Embassy in Korea, walks into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Jongno District, central Seoul on Nov. 14, in response to a summons by the ministry over Japan's opening of additional space for the National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty in Tokyo to assert its claims to the easternmost islets of Dokdo. [NEWS1]

The Korean government lodged a strong protest with Tokyo after Japan expanded a museum in the capital that promotes its territorial claims to Dokdo, summoning a senior Japanese diplomat and urging the facility’s closure.

“We strongly protest Japan’s opening of additional space for the museum in Tokyo to assert its unjustified claims to Dokdo, and we once again urge its closure,” Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday.

“Despite the Korean government's continued calls for its closure since the opening of the exhibition hall in 2018, we express strong regret that the Japanese government has opened additional space for the exhibition hall,” the commentary added.

“We must clearly recognize that repeating unjust claims to Dokdo, which is clearly our inherent territory historically, geographically and under international law, does not contribute in any way to building future-oriented Korea-Japan relations,” the statement said.

The National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty presents Dokdo, the Senkaku Islands — known in China as the Diaoyu Islands — and the Northern Territories as Japanese territory. Since opening in 2018, it has been expanded, relocated and remodeled several times.

In response to the latest move, the Foreign Ministry summoned Hirotaka Matsuo, the minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, on Friday to file a formal complaint.

The easternmost Dokdo islets, which Japan calls Takeshima, have been at the center of territorial disputes between Seoul and Tokyo for decades. Recently elected Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has previously said before she came into office that Japanese ministers should attend the annual “Takeshima Day” event that claims Dokdo as Japanese territory.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]