Rocks in the Sea

Diplomatic Tensions rise in Northeast Asia

President Lee Myung-bak urged Japan on Wednesday to take responsible steps to compensate women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. In a televised speech marking Liberation Day, Lee said the sexual enslavement of women was a violation of "universal human rights and historic justice."

Earlier this month, Lee became the first Korean president to visit the easternmost islets of Dokdo and said on Tuesday that Japan's emperor should sincerely apologize for the country's colonial rule if he wants to visit Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba on Wednesday said Tokyo lodged a formal protest with the Korean government over Lee's comments about the emperor. On the same day, Jin Matsubara, the chairman of Japan's National Public Safety Commission, and Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Yuichiro Hata paid their respects at the militarist Yasukuni Shrine, which houses the remains of convicted war criminals among Japan's war dead. (Click title for full article.)