ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April 8 (UPI) -- The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea failed to resolve territorial and historic disputes when they met at a regional conference in Pakistan.
Amid rising political tensions between Tokyo and Seoul, Japan's Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon met on the sidelines of a conference in Islamabad Thursday, Mainichi Shimbun reported Friday.
Relations between the two nations have worsened after a Japanese local government assembly designated a special day for islands in the Sea of Japan that both nations claim.
The South Korean government has protested the publishing of a Japanese social studies textbook that suggests South Korea is illegally occupying the islands.
"It was badly revised at the instruction of the Japanese government," Ban told Machimura during Thursday's meeting.
In response, Machimura said the textbook screening had been carried out properly and that he was unable to request another revision.
Despite the differences, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Seoul in June or July at a biannual summit.
Machimura and Ban also plan to meet again when a foreign ministers' meeting is held in early May in Kyoto, Japan.
