S. Korea summons Japanese diplomat to protest "Takeshima Day"

South Korea summoned a senior Japanese diplomat here Monday to strongly protest Japan's latest move of sending a high-level government official to attend the controversial "Takeshima Day" event.

Lee Sang-deok, director-general in charge of Northeast Asian affairs at South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered the government's strong protest against the celebration after summoning Kenji Kanasugi, a minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

The summoning came a day after Japan's Shimane prefecture held the annual ceremony of the Takeshima Day, which was set up in 2006 by the prefectural government to lay territorial claims to the disputed islets, known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Japanese government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a vice ministerial-level official to the event for the third year in a row. This year, Yohei Matsumoto, a parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, attended the ceremony.

Seoul's foreign ministry on Sunday published a statement to slam Japan for marking the day. The ministry blamed Japan for attempting to deny its history of disseizing the Korean Peninsula, calling the move as a "historically regressive behavior."

Ties between Seoul and Tokyo have been strained since Abe returned to power in December 2012. Abe infuriated its Asian neighbors by visiting the notorious Yasukuni Shrine in December 2013, as it honors 14 convicted Class-A war criminals. Endi