The foreign ministry lodged a "strong" protest Tuesday after Japan again laid a territorial claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in its latest defense white paper and urged Tokyo to immediately withdraw it. The ministry summoned Kazuo Tsuchiya, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to deliver its formal complaints. "The government strongly protests Japan's repeated, unjust territorial claim to Dokdo and calls for its immediate withdrawal," Park Doo-soon, the ministry's spokesperson, said in a regular briefing, stressing that the islets are "indisputably" South Korean territory under "history, geography and international law." "The government reaffirms that Japan's unjust claim has no impact whatsoever on our sovereignty over Dokdo and states that we will respond resolutely to any provocations by Japan regarding Dokdo," he added. While restating Japan's claim over Dokdo, the white paper also stressed the importance of bilateral relations with South Korea, describing it as a partner and an important neighbor in addressing shared global challenges. Japan has