The issue of the Olympic map is growing as South Korea begins navigating near rival islands and leaders are suspending talks.
The South Korean military began an annual pilgrimage on Tuesday around a number of Japanese-dominated islands, just days after negotiations between the two countries’ leaders were abandoned on the Olympic map.
Seoul and Tokyo have been at loggerheads over control of the “Dokdo” islands in South Korea and “Takeshima” in Japan, between the two countries of the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.
The decades-long conflict erupted again when South Korea staged a protest on a website on the Tokyo Olympic site that identified the islands as part of Japan.
Tokyo has rejected Seoul’s request to cancel the Olympic Games on the Olympic map. South Korea has asked the International Olympic Committee to end the conflict, and some South Korean politicians have called for a boycott of the Games.
Relations between the two Asian neighbors have been the subject of much controversy over island conflicts, trade, and the issue of compensation victims who were forced to work in Japanese companies and in military stalls during the colonial period in Japan in 1910-45.
South Korea’s security ministry said on Tuesday that drills in the East Sea were linked to naval, air and naval forces and were being carried out with minimal communication between the military due to airstrikes.
The Yonhap news agency in South Korea also reported that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was outraged by the attempts and blocked talks with President Moon Jae-in at the G7 summit in England over the weekend.
As the two leaders exchanged greetings, they never met face-to-face Suga became prime minister last September, according to a news agency in Kyodo, Japan.
A foreign ministry official in South Korea told Yonhap that “it is unfortunate that the Japanese side has not responded to the tug-of-war, which the two sides agreed to work on, as a result of the annual East Sea defense protocol”.
An official at South Korea’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters news agency Tuesday that the meeting could not be held, without giving a reason.
Asked if the dispute over the holes was the cause, the official said, “These actions take place every year to protect our territory.”
South Korea’s trials around the islands have been held twice a year since 1986, resulting in more demonstrations in Japan.
Japan’s secretary general Katsunobu Kato rejected the Yonhap report on Monday, saying it was “one-sided” and that the talks did not take place due to concerns.
On Tuesday, Kato said Tokyo had staged protests in Seoul over the incident, saying the islands were part of Japan in terms of history and international law.
“Such piercing is unacceptable and I am very sorry,” he told a news conference. “We have opposed the South Korean government and urged them to suspend it.”
