Tokyo, Aug 6 (IANS) Japan on Thursday lodged a strong protest with South Korea after the South Korean navy carried out a regular military exercise near disputed islets in the Sea of Japan, local media reported.
Masaaki Kanai, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, lodged a strong protest with the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo and renewed Japan's territorial claim on Dokdo, Japan-based Kyodo News reported. The disputed islets are known as Dokdo in South Korea while they are called Takeshima in Japan.
On Thursday, the South Korean Navy carried out defence drills near the country's islets of Dokdo, the first such exercise in 2026.
South Korea's Navy stated, "Our military has conducted East Sea defence drills on a regular basis each year," adding that the exercise was aimed at countering threats against the country's territory, people and property, Yonhap News Agency reported.
According to the statement, the latest exercise was similar in scale and method compared to the exercise conducted previously. The exercise has been launched just days after Japan laid its claim to Dokdo in its latest defence white paper.
On Tuesday, South Korea's foreign ministry lodged a "strong" protest after Japan renewed its territorial claim to South Korea's islets of Dokdo in its latest defence white paper.
The ministry summoned Kazuo Tsuchiya, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to lodge its formal complaints, Yonhap News Agency reported.
While addressing a regular briefing, South Korea's foreign ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon said, "The government strongly protests Japan's repeated, unjust territorial claim to Dokdo and calls for its immediate withdrawal," and emphasised that the islets are South Korea's territory under "history, geography and international law."
He stressed that Japan's "unjust claim" has no impact on South Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo and expressed readiness to respond resolutely to any provocations by Tokyo regarding Dokdo.
--IANS
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