South Korea has warned that it will sternly deal with Japan’s territorial provocations as Tokyo decided to send a senior government official to a local event aimed at promoting its claims over Korea’s Dokdo islets.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Han Hye-jin said in a regular news briefing that the government reiterates the stance that Dokdo is Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law, KBS World Radio reported.
Earlier in the day, the Japanese government announced in a news conference that it will send Yohei Matsumoto, a Cabinet Office parliamentary secretary, to an annual event that celebrates a quasi-official holiday designated by Japan's Shimane Prefecture in 2005 to highlight its territorial claims over the islets.
The Shimane Prefectural Government has convened a ceremony every year since 2006 and the Japanese government has sent a parliamentary secretary from the Cabinet Office to the event since 2013.