Tokyo says it has refuted a protest from Seoul over Japan's decision to approve new elementary school textbooks which state that South Korea is illegally occupying Dokdo.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga revealed the Japanese position in a regular press conference on Wednesday morning. 

He claimed that “accurate descriptions in textbooks are extremely important” so that Japanese children will understand the country’s territory and history correctly. 

He added that Tokyo offered counter-arguments both to the Chinese and South Korean governments in response to their complaints over the textbook authorization. 

On Tuesday, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology approved ten types of social studies books published by three companies that carried the wrongful claims about the South Korean islets in the East Sea.

Later in the day, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry called in Japanese Ambassador to Korea Yasumasa Nagamine to formally lodge a complaint over Tokyo’s latest Dokdo provocation.