S. Korean lawmaker calls for ban on LDP members' visit to islets

SEOUL (Kyodo) - South Korea's ruling party chief urged the government on Monday to ban a group of Japanese opposition party lawmakers from entering the country as they plan to visit an island near disputed South Korea-controlled islets in an attempt to lay claims to the islets.
''Their visit to our territory is aimed at denying the constitutional order of the Republic of Korea,'' Hong Joon Pyo of the Grand National Party said in a senior party meeting, referring to South Korea by its official name, according to Yonhap News Agency.
''The justice ministry should bar the right-wing Japanese lawmakers from entering our nation,'' Hong said.
Four lawmakers of Japan's conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party said last week they are planning to tour Ulleungdo island in August. Ulleungdo is South Korea's administrative and military defense base for the disputed islets, known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.
The lawmakers' plan has drawn strong criticism as being aimed at supporting Japan's territorial claim on the islets.
Another senior ruling party lawmaker, Lee Sang Deuk, the elder brother of President Lee Myung Bak, asked for the cooperation of ruling and opposition Japanese lawmakers over the weekend in getting the four lawmakers to drop their plan to visit Ulleungdo for political purposes, his aides reportedly said.