S Korea lodges protest with Japan in islands row

South Korea summoned the Japanese ambassador yesterday to protest over a planned visit by four Tokyo lawmakers to a location near islands claimed by both countries, an official said. Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-Shin told envoy Masatoshi Muto that authorities would turn the four legislators back when they arrive at Seoul's Gimpo airport, Yonhap news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying. The neighbors are facing a renewed escalation in a decades-old territorial row over the Seoul-controlled Dokdo islands in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), which are known as Takeshima in Japan. The four lawmakers at the centre of the dispute, from Japan's conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party, have announced a plan to visit Ulleung island, the closest South Korean territory to Dokdo. Such a visit will be of no help to bilateral relations and we want them to restrain themselves," the unnamed South Korean foreign ministry official reportedly said. "Their move seriously damages bilateral relations and hurts (South Korean) people's sentiment and greatly undermines diplomatic efforts to enhance bilateral relations." A foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed the ambassador had been called in but said she had no further information. In Tokyo, a secretary of Yoshitaka Shindo, one of the four Japanese legislators, told AFP: "We have no intention of changing our plan to visit South Korea starting on Monday. "We are aware that South Korea is trying to bar our lawmakers from entering the country, but we have no comment as it is an action by the South Korean government." Shindo said in a video message on his website: "South Korea has illegally and militarily occupied part of what is undoubtedly our territory. We don't intend to fight there. We want to express our feeling of anger to the South Korean people. The latest row began when flag carrier Korean Air mounted a test flight of its new A380 aircraft over Dokdo in June. Tokyo in response ordered public servants not to use Korean Air for a month. South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, at a cabinet meeting Tuesday, ordered officials to advise Tokyo that Seoul "cannot guarantee the lawmakers' safety" and to urge them to cancel the visit, a presidential spokesman said.