SEOUL, March 18 (UPI) -- South Korea called for real action from Japan Friday after Tokyo offered only a placating statement over their territorial dispute.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimara issued a statement late Thursday, saying his country "humbly accepts the fact that in the past it caused great damage and pain to people from Asian countries."
The statement came after South Korea's presidential National Security Council warned of "stern countermeasures" if Japan continues to challenge its territorial sovereignty or distort their shared history.
"But what is important is action by the Japanese government (more than rhetoric). The government will continue to keep an eye on this," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, in a meeting with local lawmakers, also said Japan "should show action, not words."
South Koreans are paying keen attention to the Japanese government's handling of disputes over a group of rocky islets claimed by both countries, and controversial textbooks that whitewash Japan's wartime past, he said.
