South Korea Protests Japan's Tsunami Warning Over Disputed Islets

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - South Korea has protested to Japan over a tsunami warning following the powerful New Year's Day earthquake. Officials in Seoul said on Tuesday that the tsunami warning featured a map displaying a group of islets also claimed by South Korea.

Although ties have improved in recent years, the two remain at odds over the sovereignty of the islets, called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The islets are located about halfway between them in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.

South Korea offered condolences for Monday's disaster and added that the islands, shown on the map issued by Japan's weather agency, were not subject to any territorial dispute.

"Our government has sternly protested to Japan through a diplomatic channel and requested corrective action," Lim Soo-suk, a spokesperson of the South Korean foreign ministry, told a briefing.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol's office said he had sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, offering condolences for the victims and families as well as support for recovery efforts.

At least 48 people were killed after the quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6, and subsequent tsunami waves hit Japan's west coast.

On Monday, rescuers were struggling to reach isolated areas where buildings had been toppled, roads wrecked, and power cut.

The territorial dispute was one of the lingering items of contention in Japan and South Korea's ties, along with the mobilization of forced labor at companies and of women in wartime brothels during Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula.

Japan also protested after annual drills around the islets last month by South Korea's military. Seoul's defense ministry responded that the exercises were regular training efforts meant to protect territory, citizens, and assets.

South Korea stations a small band of coast guards on the islets.

REUTERS

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