An opposition lawmaker on Monday accused the incumbent Yoon Suk Yeol administration of "giving up trying to defend Dokdo as Korean territory," given that the Oceans' Ministry's reports to the president have never mentioned the island since Yoon took office in 2022.

Rep. Lim Mi-ae of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea said that the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries report she recently acquired shows that the Dokdo Islets are not mentioned once in the reports submitted to Yoon during his time as president. In contrast, the ministry's reports to the previous Moon Jae-in administration mentioned the island 39 times.

The Dokdo Islets were also mentioned 26 times and 28 times when Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, respectively, were president, Lim pointed out. Reports submitted to the former presidents included plans to establish South Korea's sovereignty of Dokdo, and to protect its marine territory.

"The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, who is responsible for establishing (South Korea's) territorial waters, appears to have given up trying to defend Doko," Rep. Lim said.

South Korea's East Sea islets of Dokdo have long been a source of tension with Japan, with Tokyo's repeated conflicting claims of sovereignty over it. The Yoon administration has actively been trying to improve bilateral relations with Japan, sparking criticism from opposition figures who have accused the president of "humiliating the country" in the relationship between the two.