The South Korean government lambasted Japan Friday for describing Dokdo, a set of rocky islets in the East Sea, as its territory in its updated defense white paper. The Foreign Ministry summoned the number two official at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to deliver the protest message, reported Yonhap. The Defense Ministry also called in the embassy's defense attache. "The government strongly protests the Japanese government's description of Dokdo as its own territory in the defense white paper issued on Sept. 5," ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said in a statement. "The government calls on Japan to take immediate measures to correct it." He said that Dokdo clearly belongs to South Korea historically, geographically, and by international law. The statement came in response to Japan's latest defense white paper, which says the dispute over Dokdo's ownership between South Korea and Japan remains unsettled.
