South Koreans have raised their voices to denounce an annual event held in Japan aimed at promoting the country's sovereignty claim to Korea's Dokdo islets in the East Sea. 

Governor Lee Cheol-woo of North Gyeongsang Province, to which the country’s easternmost islets belong, criticized the 14th Takeshima Day event held Friday by Japan's Shimane Prefecture. 

In a statement, he called it evidence that Japan is still holding onto imperialism and stressed Dokdo is South Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law. 

Around 500 regional government officials and residents gathered on Ulleung Island near Dokdo to denounce the Japanese event as a provocation and call for its abolition. 

Dozens of civic groups in Seoul and Busan also held rallies to criticize the ceremony. 

The Japanese event was attended by parliamentary vice-minister of the Cabinet Office Ando Hiroshi, marking the seventh consecutive year the Shinzo Abe administration has sent a vice minister-level official to the prefecture event that began in 2005.