TOKYO: South Korea rejected Japan's formal proposal on Tuesday that the two
countries ask the International Court of Justice to settle a long-running
island dispute, officials said.
The proposal was made to the
South Korean foreign ministry through Japan's embassy in Seoul, the foreign
ministry in Tokyo said in a statement.
But in Seoul, South Korean
Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan immediately dismissed the suggestion, saying it
was "not worth consideration".
Kim also told a parliamentary
session, even before the diplomatic document about the proposal was sent, that
South Korea would take unspecified "stern measures" if Japan
continued to raise an "unjustified" issue over the islets.
On August 10, South Korean
President Lee Myung-Bak visited the Seoul-controlled islands, known as
Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea, winning plaudits at home but sending
relations with Japan plunging.
Lee's visit, with his cabinet
members, "does not fit with our policy and it is extremely
regrettable", Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told a meeting with
his ministers earlier Tuesday.
"We must take a firm stance
on this. We must consider possible measures that we may take in the
future," he said as he announced the court proposal was being made to
Seoul.
South Korea had rejected
proposals made by Japan in 1954 and 1962 to seek a ruling from the Hague-based
ICJ, the main judicial body of the United Nations.
"Dokdo is Korea's territory
historically, geographically and under international law a territorial dispute
does not exist," South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Younghe
said before Kim made his comment.
Cho said Seoul would receive any
diplomatic missive from Tokyo but would send a similar note back firmly stating
its position.
In a bid to pressure South Korea,
Tokyo has been considering a review of its currency swap agreement with South
Korea.
Under the current deal, the two
nations can exchange up to $70 billion worth of dollars, South Korean won and
Japanese yen, in a scheme designed to prevent financial crisis.
The swap accord was originally
designed for Japan to help South Korea withstand instability on the financial
markets, according to Japanese media.
It was not clear, however, how
important the mechanism currently is to South Korea, nor what impact any review
would have.
- AFP/de
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