Japan’s Kono Raps S. Korean Lawmakers’ Takeshima Visit

October 23, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Monday criticized South Korean lawmakers' visit earlier in the day to the Takeshima islands controlled by Seoul and claimed by Tokyo.

"Something far from a future-oriented approach has happened, and this is very regrettable," he told reporters.

The Japanese government needs to consider its response, Kono said, also referring to South Korea's effective refusal of a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ship showing the MSDF's rising sun flag with sun rays at an international fleet review held in South Korea earlier this month.

Following the South Korean refusal, no MSDF ship took part in the event. The flag has the same design as that used for the flag of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese military.

Still, Kono suggested that those issues will have no impact on a meeting to be held in Seoul later this month among Japanese and South Korean experts on ways to promote cultural and personnel exchanges between the two nations. "I hope to see a further increase in interactions between Japanese and South Korean citizens."

Also on Monday, Kenji Kanasugi, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, phoned a senior South Korean diplomat in Tokyo and said the South Korean lawmakers' visit to the Sea of Japan islands is extremely regrettable.

Kanasugi called on the South Korean side to prevent any recurrence of such visits.

The visit to the disputed islands by South Korean lawmakers was the second this year, following one in May. The Japanese ministry had requested in advance that the latest visit be canceled.

One or two such visits have been made annually in recent years, according to the ministry. Jiji Press