By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

The South Korean government strongly denounced Japan Friday for describing the islets of Dokdo in the East Sea as its own territory in this year's defense White Paper again, the fourth consecutive time in a row.

The Ministry of National Defense said it would cut high-level ties with Japan's military authorities. It called in a military attache to the Japanese Embassy in Seoul Friday to protest the description.

``We urged Japan to take corrective measures on Dokdo, which is South Korea's territory from the perspectives of geography, history and international laws,'' Song Bong-heon, head of the ministry's international cooperation bureau, said. ``We also assured the Japanese military attache that Japan's claim to Dokdo is a move to justify its colonial act in the past and will hamper the future-oriented development of South Korea-Japan relations.''

Song said working-level exchanges between the South Korean and Japanese militaries, such as goodwill visits by military personnel and navy ships, would remain intact but reconsider high-level exchanges ``seriously.''

The paper approved by Japan's Cabinet says the issue of Japanese territory Takeshima, the Japanese name for Dokdo, remain unresolved.

The last meeting of defense ministers from the two countries was held in February last year when then Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kyuma met in Tokyo after a two-year hiatus over disputes over Japanese leaders' visits to a war shrine honoring Japanese war dead and attempts to gloss over wartime atrocities.

Tokyo has also claimed the sovereignty over Dokdo, a group of rocky islets controlled by Seoul.

But Tokyo's latest claim to Dokdo has dashed hopes by South Korea, which wanted to sign an agreement with Japan on comprehensive bilateral military cooperation

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a statement condemning Japan's sovereignty claim to Dokdo.

The ministry summoned a minister-level Japanese embassy official in Seoul Friday morning to file a complaint over the contents of the defense white paper, officials said.

On Monday, the Japanese defense ministry invited military attaches from foreign embassies to notify them on the outlines of this year's paper, according to diplomatic and military sources.

Japan has stepped up its claim to Dokdo. In July, Japan renewed this in an educational handbook for teachers, prompting Seoul to recall its ambassador.

Located roughly halfway between South Korea and Japan in the East Sea, the rocky islets have been at the center of a decade-old row between the two neighboring countries.

The islets were annexed by Japan along with the Korean Peninsula in 1910, but Tokyo claims its territorial rights to the islets were declared five years before the start of Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945.

Seoul has stationed a 50-strong police contingent on Dokdo since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War to reinforce its ownership.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr