South Korea has summoned a senior official from the Japanese embassy in Seoul to protest Japan’s latest claim over the Dokdo islets.

Seoul’s foreign ministry on Tuesday called in Yoshiyasu Iseki, the embassy’s acting minister, after Tokyo made a territorial claim over Dokdo in its annual defense white paper for the 21st consecutive year.

The ministry also issued a statement protesting what it called Tokyo’s repeated unjust claims to the islets, saying Dokdo is South Korean territory according to history, geography and international law, and calling for the immediate withdrawal of the claims.

The ministry affirmed that any claim by Tokyo regarding Dokdo would have no effect whatsoever on South Korea’s sovereignty, pledging a stern response against any type of provocation by Japan concerning the islets.

The 2025 white paper, which the Japanese Cabinet adopted Tuesday, asserts that Dokdo and the Russian-controlled Kuril Islands are Japanese territory and that issues surrounding them remain unresolved.

The paper used the Japanese names for both island groups, calling the Kuril Islands the Northern Territories and referring to Dokdo as Takeshima.