韩国退回日本首相亲笔信 日媒评此举近乎宣战

英语自学网

Japan, S. Korea tensions continueBilateral spats continued to erupt on Thursday as Seoulprotested Tokyo's accusation over their disputed islands, and Tokyo reportedly refused to acceptits letter that Seoul returned.Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun said on its website that an official from the South Koreanembassy in Tokyo visited the Japanese Foreign Ministry on Thursday evening, presumably with theprotest letter written by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and sent on Aug 19, but theSouth Korean official failed to enter the ministry.Seoul earlier announced its decision to return the letter, in which Tokyo protests South KoreanPresident Lee Myung-bak’s Aug 10 visit to the disputed islands and remarks made by Lee regardingJapanese Emperor Akihito.Hundreds of South Koreans protested in front of Japan’s embassy in Seoul on Thursday againstJapan’s rival claim over the disputed islands, which South Korea calls Dokdo and Japan callsTakeshima.
       

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        　　In the wake of Lee’s visit to the islands, Japan lodged the dispute over the islands with theInternational Court of Justice, a move rejected by Seoul. South Korea has long accused Japan ofturning a blind eye to historical issues.
In addition, Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba called South Korea's control over the islands "illegal" on Wednesday, a move that sparked South Korean Foreign Ministry’s official protest onThursday.
And Tokyo on Thursday vowed to toughen measures on its rival claims over the islands against itsneighbors amid a worsening diplomatic deadlock and upcoming domestic power reshuffle.
Noda, haunted by domestic political turbulence and poor polls, hinted that he is planning to holdthe general election of the House of Representatives in early November, Kyodo News Agencyquoted senior lawmakers of opposition Liberal Democratic Party as saying on Thursday.
Japanese Cabinet members on Thursday kept expressing hard-line stances over Japan’s rivalclaims over islands with China and South Korea.
The prime minister expressed to the lower house his will to confront the issues and vowedmeasures to "beef up maritime surveillance" over China’s Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea aswell as the islands that Japan and South Korea both claim.
Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto said that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces troops "willnot allow any foreign ship to approach even 1 millimeter".
Kyodo said that on Wednesday, the United States reaffirmed during a meeting in Washingtonbetween US and Japanese senior officials that the Diaoyu Islands issue falls under the scope of theUS-Japan Security Treaty .
Shinsuke Sugiyama, director-general of the Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureau at the JapaneseForeign Ministry, told reporters that the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacificaffairs, Kurt Campbell, repeated Washington’s stance over the islands.
The treaty, signed in 1960, obliges the US to defend Japan if it is attacked.
At the end of its occupation of Okinawa in 1972, the US transferred the "administrative rights" ofthe Diaoyu Islands to Japan. China has never recognized the deal "giving" them to Japan.
Washington and Tokyo on Tuesday began a military drill in the US' western Pacific islands of Guamand Tinian, an exercise that involves retaking an island.
Reports said the drill is aimed at "taking back" the Diaoyu Islands, and analysts said the US wasthrowing its military weight behind Japan over the Diaoyu Islands issue.