The government protested and urged a retraction after the Japanese government released a defense white paper on the 4th that described Dokdo as its inherent territory. It also summoned Chujo Kazuo, the chargé d'affaires ad interim at the Japanese Embassy in Korea.

In a map titled Surveillance and Monitoring in Japan's Surrounding Seas and Airspace in the Japanese government's 2026 Defense White Paper, Dokdo is labeled as Takeshima (the name Japan claims for Dokdo), with Japan's claimed territorial waters marked around it. /Courtesy of Japan Defense White Paper capture

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Park Du-soon said at a regular briefing that "the government strongly protests Japan's repeated, unjust claims of sovereignty over Dokdo, which is clearly Korea's inherent territory historically, geographically, and under international law, through its defense white paper, and urges an immediate retraction."

Park added, "We once again make clear that Japan's unjust claims have no impact whatsoever on our sovereignty over Dokdo, and we will respond firmly to any provocation by Japan regarding Dokdo."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Chujo Kazuo, the chargé d'affaires ad interim at the Japanese Embassy in Korea, to the ministry's annex at the Government Complex Seosomun in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 4th to convey its protest.

After a Cabinet meeting that day, the Japanese government released this year's defense white paper stating that "the territorial issues of the Northern Territories (Japan's term for four of the Kuril Islands) and Takeshima (the name Japan uses for Dokdo), which are our country's (Japan's) inherent territories, remain unresolved."

In Japan, "inherent territory" is used to mean land that has never become foreign territory even once.

In the defense white paper, Japan has continued its baseless claims regarding Dokdo for 22 consecutive years since 2005.

As it did last year, Japan labeled the location of Dokdo on a map titled "security environment around our country" as "the territorial issue surrounding Takeshima."

It also drew a blue dashed line around Dokdo on the map "surveillance and reconnaissance in the seas and airspace around our country," emphasizing its claim that the waters are its territorial sea. On the map "air defense identification zones (ADIZ) of our country and surrounding countries/regions," it labeled Dokdo, which lies within Korea's ADIZ, as Takeshima.

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