Japan Protests South Korean Lawmaker Landing on Takeshima

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:06 JST, May 3, 2023

Japan has protested the fact that a South Korean lawmaker has set foot on Takeshima in Shimane Prefecture.

Takehiro Funakoshi, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, lodged the protest by phone with Kim Yong Gil, a deputy minister at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo, the ministry announced Tuesday.

“This is extremely regrettable as Takeshima is indisputably an inherent territory of Japan, in light of historical facts and based on international law,” Funakoshi said to Kim, demanding that this not happen again.

The ministry made a protest through the Japanese Embassy in South Korea as well.

According to sources including South Korean new agency Newsis, National Assembly member Jeon Yonggi of the Democratic Party of Korea, the left-leaning main opposition party, landed on the islets. Apparently, Jeon waved South Korean flags with members of a student group, and slogans such as “Dokdo is our territory” were heard being shouted, using the Korean name for Takeshima.