South Korea on Monday warned a Japanese prefecture against holding a controversial event claiming the South’s easternmost islets of Dokdo next February, denouncing the plan as “unacceptable.”

Japan’s Shimane prefecture is scheduled to hold the event on Feb. 22, or three days before the inauguration of Park Geun-hye as South Korea’s new president, a move that could lead to a potential flash point between the two nations at a time when Park and Japan’s incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have signaled intentions to mend strained ties.

“It would be unacceptable that another country, regardless of its central or provincial government, holds a commemorative event concerning Dokdo, the inherent territory of Korea,” foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said. (Yonhap News)