S. Korean tobacco retailers vow to boycott Japanese products

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- An association for South Korea's tobacco retailers said Wednesday that it will mount a campaign against Japanese products in protest of Tokyo's repeated claims to South Korea's East Sea islets of Dokdo.
"We will strongly advise all members of our association to indefinitely stop selling all Japanese products from cigarettes to beer to game consoles," said Ha Jong-cheol of the Korea Tobacco Retailer Association (KTRA) in a rally held in downtown Seoul.
"The move aims to show our firm stance against Japan's flatly wrong assertions over our territory," Ha said, adding, "The decision will never be overturned until Japan refrains from distorting history."



Diplomatic tensions between the two neighboring countries heightened last week as Japan described Dokdo as its territory in its new defense white paper. The move worsened already-soured relations after several right-wing Japanese lawmakers unsuccessfully attempted to visit Ulleung Island near Dokdo to lay claims to South Korea's easternmost outcroppings.
The KTRA has some 140,000 members nationwide, all of whom have permission to sell cigarettes at retail outlets nationwide.