South Korea has strongly protested the Japanese foreign minister’s latest territorial claim over the Dokdo islets in the East Sea.

In a statement from its spokesperson on Friday, Seoul’s foreign ministry protested Tokyo’s repeated territorial claims over Dokdo and called for their immediate withdrawal.

The ministry said it is an unjust claim that has no impact on South Korea’s sovereignty, pledging a stern response to any provocation from Japan.

It also urged Tokyo to realize that repeating its unjust claim over the islets, which it called an inherent part of South Korea’s territory historically, geographically and under international law, is not helpful in establishing future-oriented ties between the two sides.

Kim Sang-hoon, director-general for Asian and Pacific affairs at the ministry, summoned Taisuke Mibae, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to lodge a formal protest.

In a foreign policy speech in the Diet, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya pledged to address the issue in a resolute manner, based on the position that the Dokdo islets are an inherent part of Japan’s territory according to historical facts and under international law.