Shimane Prefecture's annual ceremony Friday to commemorate Japan's 1905 annexation of Takeshima will draw at least 18 Diet members, but so far no one in the Cabinet has signaled plans to participate in the event, the prefecture said Monday.

The two Takeshima islets, which South Korea took control of after World War II, lie about midway between Japan and the South in the Sea of Japan and are a constant source of territorial friction.

The central government reportedly plans to send Aiko Shimajiri, parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, to the contentious ceremony that has drawn strong protests from South Korea, which calls the islets Dokdo.