Tokyo and Seoul have long been at loggerheads over sovereignty of group of islets called Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean
A group of South Korean lawmakers landed on an islet disputed with Japan in the East China Sea on Monday, prompting a protest from Tokyo and straining ties at a time when stalled talks over North Korea’s nuclear program call for close coordination.
Tokyo and Seoul have long been at loggerheads over the sovereignty of a group of islets called Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean, which lie about halfway between the East Asian neighbors in the Sea of Japan, which Seoul refers to as the East Sea.
“This landing on Takeshima by a group of South Korean lawmakers was carried out despite Japan’s advance protests and requests to call it off,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference.
