The South Korean Defense Ministry has sternly protested Japan's latest territorial claim over the nation's easternmost Dokdo Islets, and urged an immediate correction in Tokyo's defense white paper.

In a statement Tuesday, the ministry said it's deeply regrettable that Tokyo continues to claim Dokdo as Japanese territory in its annual defense document since 2005. The South Korean ministry stressed that the islets are certainly South Korean territory under international law and in historical and geographical terms.

The statement also urged Japan to realize that without giving up its territorial claims of Dokdo, bilateral defense ties cannot be expected to advance between South Korea and Japan.

The ministry also said the government will firmly respond to any Japanese attempt to infringe on Korean sovereignty.

The Defense Ministry's chief of foreign policy Choi Hong-gi on Wednesday morning summoned Hiroshi Kimura, a military attaché at the Japanese Embassy to Seoul, to convey its message of protest.