Japan demanded yesterday that South Korea immediately halt an operation to chart waters claimed by both countries, and sent a coast guard patrol boat chasing after the South Korean ship conducting the survey.
South Korean officials, meanwhile, said that the Japanese patrol boat was encroaching on their country's waters, and the survey ship continued its work in the disputed waters surrounding rocky islets called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea. They lie roughly halfway between the two countries.
Japan also said it may resurrect plans -- canceled in April -- to conduct its own maritime survey in the disputed waters, which would further stoke regional tensions.
"It is extremely regrettable," a Japanese Foreign Ministry statement said of South Korea's survey. "We demand they immediately stop."
Japanese coast guard official Naoki Mori said Japan was considering its own survey of the waters, but that the government has not reached a formal decision.
The South Korean ship, which launched the survey on Monday, entered waters that Japan claims as its exclusive economic zone at 6:41am yesterday. It was intercepted by a Japanese patrol boat soon after and was being monitored through the day, the coast guard said.
South Korea, however, claimed that the Japanese ship had entered South Korean waters.
South Korean Maritime Affairs Ministry official Park Noh-jung in Seoul said that the Japanese ship encroached on South Korean waters near the islets. He declined to give further details.
South Korea's Yonhap News agency reported that the survey was supposed to be completed yesterday, but Kim Ok-soo, from the National Oceanographic Research Institute, said the survey would continue until July 17.
In Tokyo, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Shotaro Yachi later summoned the South Korean ambassador over the dispute, according to an official of the Foreign Ministry.
The official could not give further details, but Kyodo News agency reported talks ended without reaching a solution.
Yachi demanded South Korea stop the survey and also said that Japan may begin its own survey "at an appropriate time," Kyodo said.
Ra Jong-yil, South Korean ambassador to Japan, defended his country's decision to go ahead with the operation, the report said.
The Japanese patrol boat radioed the South Korean Haeyang 2000 to stop its activities yesterday, but the vessel refused and headed toward the set of disputed islets, the Japanese coast guard statement said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was