Japan stages rally over disputed islands with South Korea
Japanese rally in Tokyo in support of marine territorial claims to a group of islets in the East China Sea also claimed by South Korea
Japan held an annual rally on Saturday marking Tokyo’s claim to a set of tiny islands controlled by South Korea, further fuelling a long-standing territorial row between the neighbouring countries.
Some 500 people gathered at the event in Shimane prefecture in western Japan, including a high-ranking Japanese government official as well as local and national politicians, organisers said.
Tokyo refers to the islands in the Sea of Japan (East China Sea) as Takeshima, while they are known as Dokdo in South Korea.
Yoshitami Kameoka, a parliamentary secretary in Tokyo’s Cabinet Office, attended the event representing the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the organisers said.
“Takeshima is an integral part of our country,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo on Friday, adding that Kameoka’s attendance at the rally was aimed at emphasising the Japanese stance on the issue.
Relations between the two countries have regularly been strained by the territorial dispute and other issues arising from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.