Sanae Takaichi, widely expected to become Japan's next Prime Minister, has pledged to "inform the international community" that the Dokdo islands constitute Japanese territory, threatening to unravel years of painstaking diplomatic progress between Seoul and Tokyo.
In remarks reported by Yonhap News, Takaichi—currently the frontrunner in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership race—stated that she would make Japan's claim to the disputed islands (known as Takeshima in Japan) a central component of her diplomatic agenda.
The statement has drawn swift condemnation from across South Korea's political spectrum. The Foreign Ministry in Seoul summoned Japan's ambassador to lodge a formal protest, while President Yoon Suk-yeol's office issued a statement reaffirming that Dokdo is "historically, geographically, and under international law, clearly Korean territory."
The timing is particularly fraught. President Yoon has invested significant political capital in improving relations with Tokyo, overcoming domestic opposition to reach agreements on wartime labor compensation and intelligence sharing. Korean and Japanese forces have conducted joint military exercises for the first time in decades, coordinating responses to North Korean missile threats.
Those gains now appear fragile. "Takaichi's statement shows how easily decades of progress can be erased by nationalist posturing," said Kim Sung-han, former national security advisor. "President Yoon took enormous political risks to improve Japan relations. This is how Tokyo repays that effort."
The Dokdo islets, two rocky outcroppings in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), have been administered by since 1954 with a permanent coast guard detachment. claims sovereignty based on 17th-century maps and asserts that Korea's 1952 declaration of control violated international law. Korea counters that the islands were historically Korean territory illegally seized during Japan's colonial occupation.



