ROK-Japan dispute worries US_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

ROK-Japan dispute worries US

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Tensions between Seoul and Tokyo over the disputed islands continued on Monday, and the rift is prompting Washington to worry about the already shaky US-Japan-ROK trilateral collaboration, analysts said.

ROK President Lee Myung-bak on Monday called Japan's reaction "expected" when discussing his Aug 10 visit to the disputed islands, which Seoul calls Dokdo and Tokyo calls Takeshima.

Lee said he had planned the visit "for three years", and he said the "Japanese government chose to express 'negative attitudes' on the islands issue due to its domestic political issues", the ROK's Yonhap News Agency said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda recalled Japan's ambassador to the ROK to discuss countermeasures, and Japanese media on Monday focused on Tokyo's plan to lodge the islands case with the International Court of Justice.

Seoul on Sunday dismissed Tokyo's plan to go to the international court and said it will not respond to the request.

Joongang Ilbo, an ROK newspaper, on Monday slammed Tokyo's request as a move to "regionalize" the issue. The paper said a resolution through the international court requires the presence of both countries.

The ROK has kept a small coastguard detachment on the islands since 1954 and currently they are under Seoul's control. In both Japan and the ROK there has been friction and a fluctuating nationalist mood over the islands issue in recent years.