S. Korea protests Japan's annual event on Dokdo attended by high-level official

SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea lodged a strong protest Wednesday against Japan for its dispatch of a high-ranking government official to an annual event highlighting Tokyo's claim to Dokdo in the East Sea.

Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia Pacific affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, called in Naoki Kumagai, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy, to deliver the message.

Hideyuki Nakano, a parliamentary vice minister of Japan's Cabinet office, attended the ceremony hosted by the Japanese prefecture of Shimane to lay claim to the rocky outcroppings effectively controlled by South Korea.

In a separate statement, Seo's ministry made clear that Dokdo is "historically, geographically and under international law" that of South Korean territory and called for Japan to halt making "unreasonable claims."

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