South Korea lodged a strong protest Friday against Japan's first survey on Dokdo islets, urging the neighboring country to stop provocations.

The protest came a day after Japan's Cabinet Office unveiled the results of its polls conducted in June on 3,000 Japanese adults to ask whether the Seoul's easternmost islets belong to Japan or South Korea.

More than 60 percent of respondents said that the islets, known as Takeshima in Japan, are Japan's own territory in terms of history and international law.

"Our government sternly protests against Japan's renewed provocative act against Dokdo, which is undisputedly our own territory in terms of history, geography and international law, under the cloak of an opinion poll of the Cabinet Office," South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Seoul urged Tokyo to immediately stop such provocations, saying that it was "deplorable" for Japan to continue its ridiculous claims to Dokdo and for some Japanese political leaders to repeat arrogant words and show wrong perception of history.

The ministry said that the string of anti-history actions and words were posing serious obstacles to the forward-looking relations between Seoul and Tokyo as well as to harmony in Northeast Asia.