October 24, 2018

There is a growing sense among conservatives in Japan that the administration of Moon Jae-in in Seoul is going out of its way to antagonise Tokyo in order to curry additional favour with North Korea.

Bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea have long been complicated by issues linked to Tokyo’s annexation and colonisation of the Korean peninsula, but analysts say recent events have sent the relationship into a tailspin.

On Monday, a group of 13 South Korean politicians unfurled their national flag on the top of a rocky outcrop in the Sea of Japan that is controlled by Seoul but claimed by Tokyo as its sovereign territory. Known as Dok-do in Korea, the inhospitable rocks are home to a detachment of police and are visited by boatloads of tourists. The islands appear on Japanese maps as Takeshima.

Read more:

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2169868/japan-south-korea-ties-rocks-over-pyongyang