ID :
195713
Tue, 07/19/2011 - 07:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/195713
The shortlink copeid
PM expresses regret about Japan's fresh provocations over Dokdo
(LEAD)SEOUL, July 19 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said Tuesday that he feels "greatly regretful" about Tokyo's boycott of Korean Air over the airline's special flight last month above the South Korean islets of Dokdo and Japanese lawmakers' plan to visit nearby Ulleung Island.
Presiding over a weekly Cabinet meeting, Kim urged Japan to withdraw the ban on its civil servants' use of Korean Air out of respect for WTO rules, according to government spokesman Park Sun-kyoo.
Japan's foreign ministry has instructed its officials to refrain from taking Korean Air flights for one month starting on Monday in protest of the airline's flight by its first Airbus A380 over Dokdo in mid-June.
Kim went on to regret an announcement by a group of lawmakers of Japan's conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party that they will visit Ulleung, an East Sea island between South Korea's east coast and Dokdo, early next month.
"I think the measure taken against Korean Air, a civilian company, is an inappropriate one that could run against WTO agreements as well as international diplomatic customs," Kim was quoted as saying.
"As President (Lee Myung-bak) has declared before, it is an undeniable fact that Dokdo is part of South Korea's territory," he stressed.
Japan's claims to the Dokdo islets in the East Sea have long been a thorn in relations between Seoul and Tokyo.
South Korea rejects the claims as nonsense because the country regained independence from Japan's 36-year colonial rule in 1945 and reclaimed sovereignty over its territory, including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions between South Korea and Japan resurfaced in April after Japan's Cabinet approved the "Diplomatic Blue Paper" report for 2011 with claims to the islets, and its education ministry approved a series of school textbooks claiming the islets as Japanese territory.
Presiding over a weekly Cabinet meeting, Kim urged Japan to withdraw the ban on its civil servants' use of Korean Air out of respect for WTO rules, according to government spokesman Park Sun-kyoo.
Japan's foreign ministry has instructed its officials to refrain from taking Korean Air flights for one month starting on Monday in protest of the airline's flight by its first Airbus A380 over Dokdo in mid-June.
Kim went on to regret an announcement by a group of lawmakers of Japan's conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party that they will visit Ulleung, an East Sea island between South Korea's east coast and Dokdo, early next month.
"I think the measure taken against Korean Air, a civilian company, is an inappropriate one that could run against WTO agreements as well as international diplomatic customs," Kim was quoted as saying.
"As President (Lee Myung-bak) has declared before, it is an undeniable fact that Dokdo is part of South Korea's territory," he stressed.
Japan's claims to the Dokdo islets in the East Sea have long been a thorn in relations between Seoul and Tokyo.
South Korea rejects the claims as nonsense because the country regained independence from Japan's 36-year colonial rule in 1945 and reclaimed sovereignty over its territory, including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions between South Korea and Japan resurfaced in April after Japan's Cabinet approved the "Diplomatic Blue Paper" report for 2011 with claims to the islets, and its education ministry approved a series of school textbooks claiming the islets as Japanese territory.
