Japan's disputes with S. Korea, China grow

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SEOUL, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda appealed to the international community Friday to support Japan's sovereignty over contested islands.

In a televised speech, Noda said Japan would assert its claims calmly and avoid the urge to "whip up domestic opinion and needlessly escalate the situation," a reference to anti-Japan demonstrations in South Korea and statements from South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, The New York Times reported Friday.

The disputes concern South Korean-controlled islands between the two countries, which Japan also claims, and Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea that were illegally visited last week by Chinese activists.

The situation worsened after Lee visited the Korean islands earlier this month, drawing a strong protest from Japan, the Korean Yonhap news agency reported..

A Seoul government source told Yonhap Thursday a protest letter from Noda to Lee would be sent back.

The report said Noda's letter, sent to Seoul's embassy last Friday, called Lee's visit regrettable and asked the Korean leader to apologize for asking Japan's Emperor Akihito to apologize for Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.

Earlier this week, South Korea rejected Japan's proposal to take the island issue to the International Court of Justice for resolution, saying the proposal was not worth considering. Instead, South Korea has planned a worldwide public relations effort to counter Japan's claim to the islands.

Yonhap said in visiting the islands, Lee had remarked about Japan's unrepentant attitude over colonial rule. South Korea has maintained the territory is Korean based on history, geography and under international law. A small Korea police unit is stationed on the islands.

The Japanese Parliament condemned what it called Korea's "illegal occupations" of territory known as Dokdo in Korean and Takemisha in Japanese, and also called on China to prevent activists from landing on the East China Sea islands called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, the Times said.