Two South Korean demonstrators cut off their fingers outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul yesterday to protest Tokyo's territorial claim to a set of islets controlled by South Korea.
The protest follows a proposal by Japanese provincial lawmakers to establish a commemoration day to bolster Tokyo's claim to the small islands, called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The lawmakers are set to vote on the measure tomorrow.
An ambulance quickly took away a middle-aged woman who sliced off her finger with a cutter. Another protester who also cut off his finger was removed by police.
Riot police sprayed fire extinguishers to disperse the protesters, who complained of what they called the South Korean government's "lukewarm" response to the Japanese claims.
Also yesterday, Japan said its ambassador to South Korea has been called back temporarily to Tokyo.
Ambassador Toshiyuki Takano returned to Tokyo on Sunday to "brief officials on the current situation and how to respond," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said.
Hosoda refused to specify the reason for Takano's return. The diplomat infuriated South Koreans last month by saying the islets are "historically and legally part of the Japanese territory."
His remarks about the islets, called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea, set off a series of protests in South Korea.
The volcanic islets, which lie between the two countries in the Sea of Japan, are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and have long caused diplomatic friction between South Korea and Japan. South Korea has stationed a small detachment of police on the otherwise uninhabited islets, effectively controlling them.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS