A Japanese historian has strongly criticized his government's intensifying sovereignty claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, calling it a scheme to "reoccupy" them.
"The Japanese government claims Dokdo is undoubtedly Japanese territory historically and under international law, but this is a scheme to reoccupy them," the Japanese researcher and civic activist Shojin Sato said in a recent report.
Dokdo never belonged to Japan before the country annexed the islets during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and the rest of the Korean Peninsula during the 1910-45 colonial rule, said the president of a private Japanese academic society for studying modern Asian history.
Sato introduced an 1877 Japanese government directive stipulating that Ulleung Island and Dokdo are not part of Japanese territory as proof of his claims.
Korea regained control over the rocky outcroppings following Japan's defeat in World War II. However, Tokyo has been reluctant to accept the Allies' decision in 1952 to restore all Korean territory, and claims ownership of the islets in school textbooks and government reports.
Koreans regard Japan's territorial claim to Dokdo as a sign Tokyo has not fully repented for its imperialist past, including forcing Korean women into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during the war.
South Korea keeps a small police detachment on the islets, effectively exercising control over them.
Sato is scheduled to announce details of the report during an event to mark the publication of his book in Seoul on March 1.
He will also unveil two 19th-century Japanese maps showing the two Korean islands in a color different from the one used for Japanese territory, a strong indication that Dokdo is historically part of Korean territory, according to organizers of the event.
The criticism came as tensions have flared anew between South Korea and Japan over Dokdo.
On Friday, Japan's Shimane Prefecture held an annual event aimed at bolstering its claim to Dokdo. This year's event was larger in scale as a central government official attended it, along with 21 lawmakers. Seoul filed a strong protest, calling Japan's claims "unjustifiable."