S. Korea angers Japan with disputed islets visit
Source: Agencies |
October 24, 2012, Wednesday
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A GROUP of South Korean lawmakers yesterday visited an isolated set of islands at the center of a territorial dispute with Japan - prompting an immediate protest from Tokyo.
Seventeen members of the parliamentary National Defense Committee flew to the Dokdo islands on military helicopters for a day-long visit, an aide to committee member Han Ki-Ho said.
The trip - described as a government inspection session - was aimed at checking security measures around the islands which are guarded by the South Korean coastguard, the aide said.
A picture released by the committee showed the lawmakers shouting slogans with a placard reading "Dokdo is our land. We will defend it."
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, who on Monday had urged the Seoul MPs to cancel their trip, said it was "extremely regrettable" that his call had gone unheeded.
"We strongly protest it and we are urging South Korea to prevent future incidents," Fujimura said yesterday in Tokyo.
The islands, which lie between the two countries, are controlled by South Korea but claimed by both nations.
The long-standing row over ownership boiled over in August when South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak made a surprise visit to the islets.
Tokyo said the trip, the first ever by a South Korean president, was deliberately provocative.
Lee said it was designed to press Japan to settle lingering colonial-era grievances, including the issue of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II.
Japan colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945.
In August 2011, three conservative Japanese lawmakers tried to visit Ulleung island, the closest South Korean territory to the Dokdo/Takeshima chain, to voice their anger at Seoul's "occupation" of the islets.
South Korean immigration officers refused to allow them into the country, citing security concerns.
Japan has said it will take the issue to the International Court of Justice.
But South Korea must first give its assent, a notion it rejects as it has long considered the islands its territory "historically, geographically and by international law."
Seventeen members of the parliamentary National Defense Committee flew to the Dokdo islands on military helicopters for a day-long visit, an aide to committee member Han Ki-Ho said.
The trip - described as a government inspection session - was aimed at checking security measures around the islands which are guarded by the South Korean coastguard, the aide said.
A picture released by the committee showed the lawmakers shouting slogans with a placard reading "Dokdo is our land. We will defend it."
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, who on Monday had urged the Seoul MPs to cancel their trip, said it was "extremely regrettable" that his call had gone unheeded.
"We strongly protest it and we are urging South Korea to prevent future incidents," Fujimura said yesterday in Tokyo.
The islands, which lie between the two countries, are controlled by South Korea but claimed by both nations.
The long-standing row over ownership boiled over in August when South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak made a surprise visit to the islets.
Tokyo said the trip, the first ever by a South Korean president, was deliberately provocative.
Lee said it was designed to press Japan to settle lingering colonial-era grievances, including the issue of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II.
Japan colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945.
In August 2011, three conservative Japanese lawmakers tried to visit Ulleung island, the closest South Korean territory to the Dokdo/Takeshima chain, to voice their anger at Seoul's "occupation" of the islets.
South Korean immigration officers refused to allow them into the country, citing security concerns.
Japan has said it will take the issue to the International Court of Justice.
But South Korea must first give its assent, a notion it rejects as it has long considered the islands its territory "historically, geographically and by international law."
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