Seoul objects to Tokyo Takeshima Day amid sovereignty dispute
South Korea protested a Japanese Takeshima Day ceremony in Shimane Prefecture, objecting to the attendance of a senior Japanese official and urging Tokyo to abolish the event. Seoul reiterates that Dokdo (Takeshima) is Korea’s sovereign territory historically, geographically and under international law, and it summoned a top Japanese diplomat to lodge a protest. The dispute stems from Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean peninsula, and the islets lie near fertile fishing grounds with potential valuable gas hydrates.