The Japanese government has placed advertisements in roughly 70 domestic newspapers claiming the Dokdo islets are Japanese territory.

The advertisements state that Japan established sovereignty over Dokdo as late as in the mid-17th century and reaffirmed its will to possess the islets in a Cabinet meeting in 1905.

Placed under the name of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, the ads say Korea claims it began effectively controlling the Dokdo islets and acquired sovereignty before Japan. But the ministry continues to explain that Korean historical documents about Dokdo are ambiguous and there is no clear evidence to Korea’s claim.

This marks the first time that the Japanese government has placed advertisements claiming Japan’s sovereignty over Dokdo in Japanese newspapers.

The Japanese prime minister’s office is known to have led the placement of the ads, which will run for a week.