ID :
198060
Fri, 07/29/2011 - 12:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/198060
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea bans Japanese lawmakers from visiting island near Dokdo
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with fresh quotes, background, new photo; CHANGES headline)
SEOUL/TOKYO, July 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea summoned Japan's ambassador on Friday and notified him that it will slap an entry ban on the Japanese lawmakers planning to visit an island near the South's easternmost islets of Dokdo, Seoul officials said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-shin lodged a formal protest with Japanese Ambassador Masatoshi Muto against the planned visit by four Japanese lawmakers to Ulleung Island near Dokdo, a move that Seoul officials call an attempt to reassert Tokyo's territorial claims to the islets.
"Kim officially notified Muto that the Japanese lawmakers will not be allowed to enter South Korea with regard to their planned visit to Ulleung Island," a senior official at Seoul's foreign ministry said.
"We also conveyed our stance that their safety cannot be guaranteed and their visit will be of no help to the development of bilateral relations," the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The planned trip early next week by four lawmakers of Japan's opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to Ulleung Island, located about 90 kilometers west of Dokdo, is escalating diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Tokyo because of the latter's claims to the South Korean volcanic islets.
Since the LDP lawmakers announced the plan last week, public anger has grown in South Korea and officials expressed concern that the Tokyo lawmakers could be a target of angry civic groups.
This week President Lee Myung-bak warned the Japanese lawmakers against visiting the island, saying their safety could be at risk. Seoul's foreign ministry has also repeatedly urged the Tokyo politicians to call off their travel plans.
The four lawmakers were expected to arrive at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul on Monday on their way to visit Ulleung Island, according to a diplomatic source.
But the airport immigration officials will deny their entry to South Korea, ministry officials said.
The latest diplomatic tensions over Dokdo started early this month when Japan imposed one-month ban on the use of Korean Air flights by its diplomats in retaliation for the airline's June 16 test flight of its first Airbus A380 plane over the South Korean islets.
South Korea demanded Japan immediately withdraw the measure, but Tokyo has refused to do so.
Japan's claims to Dokdo have long been a source of diplomatic friction in relations with South Korea as resentment over Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea still runs deep here.
South Korea considers Japan's sovereignty claims over the cluster of rocky outcroppings in the East Sea not as a territorial issue, but as a historical matter related to the colonial rule and a sign that Tokyo has not fully repented for its militaristic past.
Early on Friday, Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported that the LDP leadership will permit their lawmakers to visit Ulleung Island as planned.
The LDP emphasized that it would be a "personal visit," not formally associated with the party, the Japanese daily said.
The Japanese government has asked the lawmakers to refrain from such a controversial act, but also called on Seoul to guarantee their security if they pressed ahead with the trip, according to the report.
SEOUL/TOKYO, July 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea summoned Japan's ambassador on Friday and notified him that it will slap an entry ban on the Japanese lawmakers planning to visit an island near the South's easternmost islets of Dokdo, Seoul officials said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-shin lodged a formal protest with Japanese Ambassador Masatoshi Muto against the planned visit by four Japanese lawmakers to Ulleung Island near Dokdo, a move that Seoul officials call an attempt to reassert Tokyo's territorial claims to the islets.
"Kim officially notified Muto that the Japanese lawmakers will not be allowed to enter South Korea with regard to their planned visit to Ulleung Island," a senior official at Seoul's foreign ministry said.
"We also conveyed our stance that their safety cannot be guaranteed and their visit will be of no help to the development of bilateral relations," the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The planned trip early next week by four lawmakers of Japan's opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to Ulleung Island, located about 90 kilometers west of Dokdo, is escalating diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Tokyo because of the latter's claims to the South Korean volcanic islets.
Since the LDP lawmakers announced the plan last week, public anger has grown in South Korea and officials expressed concern that the Tokyo lawmakers could be a target of angry civic groups.
This week President Lee Myung-bak warned the Japanese lawmakers against visiting the island, saying their safety could be at risk. Seoul's foreign ministry has also repeatedly urged the Tokyo politicians to call off their travel plans.
The four lawmakers were expected to arrive at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul on Monday on their way to visit Ulleung Island, according to a diplomatic source.
But the airport immigration officials will deny their entry to South Korea, ministry officials said.
The latest diplomatic tensions over Dokdo started early this month when Japan imposed one-month ban on the use of Korean Air flights by its diplomats in retaliation for the airline's June 16 test flight of its first Airbus A380 plane over the South Korean islets.
South Korea demanded Japan immediately withdraw the measure, but Tokyo has refused to do so.
Japan's claims to Dokdo have long been a source of diplomatic friction in relations with South Korea as resentment over Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea still runs deep here.
South Korea considers Japan's sovereignty claims over the cluster of rocky outcroppings in the East Sea not as a territorial issue, but as a historical matter related to the colonial rule and a sign that Tokyo has not fully repented for its militaristic past.
Early on Friday, Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported that the LDP leadership will permit their lawmakers to visit Ulleung Island as planned.
The LDP emphasized that it would be a "personal visit," not formally associated with the party, the Japanese daily said.
The Japanese government has asked the lawmakers to refrain from such a controversial act, but also called on Seoul to guarantee their security if they pressed ahead with the trip, according to the report.
