(MENAFN- QNA) South Korea lodged a strong complaint with Japan on Tuesday over Tokyo's renewed territorial claim to the South Korean easternmost islets of Dokdo in an annual defense white paper.
The Defense Ministry said it called in the defense attache Army Col. Nobuhisa Goto from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to deliver the message of protest earlier in the morning, South Korean Yonhap news agency said.
"The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea strongly remonstrates about the 2015 defense white paper which projected our own territory of Dokdo as Japan's territory and marked it as part of Japan's domain on the related map while also drawing an unagreed-upon line for the Exclusive Economic Zone there," the ministry said in a statement.
It "resolutely urges prompt action to correct them and measures not to repeat such unjust behavior," according to the statement.
The ministry said Japan's repeated Dokdo claims will keep the neighbors from pursuing forward-looking development of their military relations, also vowing to respond "determinedly" to Japan's claims and safeguard its sovereignty over the islets "thoroughly."
Dokdo, which lies closer to South Korea in the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, has been a constant source of tension between the neighbors.
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