Seoul calls in Japanese diplomat over annual event asserting Tokyo's claims to Dokdo
Published: 22 Feb. 2026, 20:35
![Hirotaka Matsuo, the deputy head of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, left, arrives at the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs's headquarters in Seoul on Feb. 22. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/02/22/84252666-1d92-4d5e-8cec-e24972b751ef.jpg)
Hirotaka Matsuo, the deputy head of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, left, arrives at the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs's headquarters in Seoul on Feb. 22. [YONHAP]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday called in a Japanese diplomat over an annual event in Japan that claims sovereignty over Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.
The ministry called in Hirotaka Matsuo, the deputy head of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to strongly protest the event that took place in Japan's western Shimane Prefecture.
“[We] once again sternly urge that the event be immediately scrapped,” ministry spokesperson Park Il said in a statement. “Dokdo is clearly an integral part of our territory in terms of history, geography and international law.”
Park called on Tokyo to immediately stop its unjustified claims to the pair of rocky islets in the East Sea and face history in a humble manner.
Dokdo has long been a recurring source of tension between Korea and Japan, as Tokyo continues to make sovereignty claims in its policy papers, public statements and school textbooks. Korea has kept a small police detachment on Dokdo since its liberation from Japan in 1945.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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