SEOUL, The foreign ministry said Tuesday it has dismissed Japan’s protest over a recent visit to the South Korean easternmost islets of Dokdo by a minor opposition party leader.

Japan lodged the complaint via foreign ministry and embassy channels after Cho Kuk, the leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, paid a visit to the islets Monday. Cho used the trip to announce a statement denouncing President Yoon Suk Yeol’s diplomacy with Japan as being “subservient.”

“The Japanese side has protested through diplomatic channels. Our side has dismissed it,” Lee Joo-il, deputy foreign ministry spokesperson, said in a press briefing.

“Dokdo is clearly South Korea’s own territory historically, geographically and under international law, and the government will sternly deal with any unjust claims laid by Japan over the islets,” Lee added.

Dokdo has long been a recurring source of tension between the two neighbors, as Tokyo continues to make the sovereignty claims in its policy papers, public statements and school textb
ooks.

South Korea keeps a small police detachment on the islets, effectively controlling them.

Source: Yonhap News Agency