This handout photo taken on Aug 25, 2019 and provided by the South Korean Navy shows the South Korean Navy's Aegis-equipped destroyer, Sejong the Great, participating in a military drill near the Dokdo islets. (HANDOUT/ SOUTH KOREAN NAVY / AFP)

SEOUL - South Korea's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denounced Japan for its renewed territorial claim to Dokdo islets, which are called Takeshima in Japan, lying halfway between the two countries.

The ministry said in a statement that the South Korean government strongly protested against Japan's reiteration of unjust sovereignty claims over Dokdo and sternly called for an immediate abolition of the so-called Dokdo Day event.

Earlier in the day, Japan's Shimane prefecture held what it called Takeshima Day event, attended by a high-level official of Japan's central government.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry stressed that Dokdo is clearly an integral part of the South Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law, urging Japan to immediately stop making unjustified claims over Dokdo and squarely face history in a humble manner

South Korea's Foreign Ministry stressed that Dokdo is clearly an integral part of the South Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law, urging Japan to immediately stop making unjustified claims over Dokdo and squarely face history in a humble manner.

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The Shimane prefecture designated Feb 22 as the Takeshima Day in 2005, and has since held an annual event to claim its administrative sovereignty over the islets.

South Korea regained its sovereignty over the Dokdo islets from Japan after the Korean Peninsula's liberation from the 1910-45 Japanese colonization.

South Koreans see Japan's claim over the rocky outcrops as its denial of atrocities committed by Japan during the colonial rule.

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The foreign ministry summoned Naoki Kumagai, deputy head of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to lodge a protest against the renewed territorial claim.