Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has renewed his country’s claims that South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo belong to Japan.

Addressing the Japanese Diet on Friday, Motegi said Dokdo is Japanese territory considering historical facts and under international law, adding that his country will respond sternly based on that stance.

Motegi’s remarks are nearly identical to those made by his predecessor, Takeshi Iwaya, roughly a year ago. 

It marks the 13th year that Tokyo’s top diplomat has laid claim to South Korea’s easternmost islets.

Japan has made territorial claims over Dokdo annually via its foreign minister’s speech in the Diet since 2014, when former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida served as the foreign minister.

Motegi was quick to add, however, that South Korea is an important neighbor that Japan needs to work with on key global issues and vowed to communicate closely with Seoul to make South Korea-Japan ties stable and future-oriented.