The plans to send the senior government officials to South Korea’s 2012 international expo from Japan was cancelled. Japan is protesting against relating islands claimed by both countries.
South Korea at the Expo has displayed a model of a maritime research facility which is scheduled to be built near the disputed Dokdo islands in the Sea of Japan which are known in Japan as Takeshima. The expo started last month.
According to the Japan’s foreign ministry, the display is “is irreconcilable to the stance of the government of our country”. The ministry also added that it was regrettable that Seoul had failed to meet Tokyo’s request to remove it.
The ministry also released a statement, which said that the government decided not to send it to senior officials to the expo’s Japan Day Ceremony which was scheduled for June 2, 2012. Jaoan had claimed the Island in the year 1905 and then went on to annex the Korean peninsula from 1910 until its World War II defeat in the year 1945. On the other hand South Korea claims that its ownership dates back in the centuries.
