evidence: So, why not bring the case jointly to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to finally put the issue of sovereignty to rest? In fact, this has been a previous approach by Tokyo, which has asked Seoul three times to agree to a joint submission to the ICJ. South Korea has refused each time, as it believes there is no dispute over the sovereignty of the islets. During Tokyo’s last approach in 2012, the South Korean Foreign Ministry responded, "Dokdo is clearly part of Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law, and no territorial dispute exists. The Japanese government’s proposal to take the Dokdo issue before the ICJ is not worth attention." Ironically, this is similar to Tokyo’s approach with China over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.