SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign ministry urged Japan Tuesday to retract its territorial claims to the disputed islets, called Dokdo here and Takeshima in Japan lying halfway between the two countries.
The ministry's spokesman said in a statement that the defense white paper, unveiled by the Japanese government, repeated its wrongful territorial claims to the South Korean inherent territory of Dokdo.
The statement strongly protested against the claim, urging Tokyo to immediately withdraw it.
Japan has laid territorial claim to the rocky outcroppings through its annual defense white paper for 14 years in a row.
South Koreans regard the claim as Japan's refusal to repent for its imperialist past as the islets were incorporated into Japan's territory during its 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea regained its sovereignty over the islets right after its liberation from the colonial rule.
The foreign ministry said Japan's wrongful, ridiculous claim to Dokdo will never be of any help to build future-oriented relations between South Korea and Japan.
It noted Japan's claim will have no influence on South Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo, which it said is South Korea's inherent territory historically, geographically and by international law.
The ministry summoned Koichi Mizushima, minister at the Japanese embassy in Seoul, to lodge a protest against the Japanese government.
