This handout photo taken on Aug 25, 2019 and provided by the South Korean Navy shows the South Korean Navy's Aegis-equipped destroyer, Sejong the Great, participating in a military drill near the Dokdo islets. (HANDOUT/ SOUTH KOREAN NAVY / AFP)

SEOUL - South Korea's foreign ministry denounced Japan Monday for its renewed territorial claim to Dokdo islets, which is called Takeshima in Japan, lying halfway between the two countries.

The South Korean government strongly protested against the Japanese prefecture of Shimane holding an annual event to claim its administrative sovereignty over the Dokdo islets, South Korea's foreign ministry said

The ministry said in a statement that the South Korean government strongly protested against the Japanese prefecture of Shimane holding a so-called Takeshima Day event and the Japanese cabinet sending its high-level officials to the event.

Calling the event the repetition of futile provocations over its easternmost islets of Dokdo, the Seoul ministry urged Tokyo to immediately abolish the annual event.

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The ministry said Dokdo is an inherent territory of South Korea historically, geographically and by international law, noting that the Japanese government should immediately stop unjust claim to the rocky outcroppings and face up to history with a humble attitude.

Japan's Shimane prefecture designated Feb 22 as the Takeshima Day in 2005, and has held an annual event since then to claim its administrative sovereignty over the islets.

South Korea regained its sovereignty over the Dokdo islets from Japan since the Korean Peninsula's liberation from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonization.

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The South Korean foreign ministry summoned Hirohisa Soma, deputy head of mission of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, earlier in the day, to lodge a protest against the renewed territorial claim, according to Yonhap news agency.