Seoul rebuts Japan’s renewed claim over disputed islets

ANKARA

South Korea on Monday rejected Japan's renewed territorial claims over disputed Dokdo islets, local media reported.

"I think it needs no explanations, but Dokdo is South Korea's inherent territory historically, geographically and by international law," Yonhap News Agency quoted Boo Seung-chan, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, as saying.

Last month, Japan approved new textbooks for first-year high school students which contain Tokyo’s sovereignty claims over Dokdo.

Koreans, a colony of Japan from 1910 to 1945, are traditionally sensitive to Japanese leaders' words or actions related to history and territorial issues.

* Writing by Islamuddin Sajid