UPDATED: 13:09, May 26, 2005South Korea on Thursday urged Japan to take a disciplinary measure against Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi, who made a controversial comments over Seoul-Washington ties recently.
"We urge the Japanese government to take due measures against the Japanese official who made the irresponsible remarks," South Korean Presidential Office Spokesman Kim Man-soo said in a news release.
Yachi told a group of South Korean lawmakers on May 11 that "Japan is receiving a lot of intelligence from the United States, but we're not in a position to share that" with South Korea, as the United States "does not fully trust (the South)."
Kim said Seoul cannot give deaf ear to the remarks in consideration of future relations between South Korea and Japan.
"It is very unreasonable for a senior Japanese diplomat to talkabout South Korea-US relations ahead of the planned South Korea-Japan summit," Kim said.
According to an agreement, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi are to hold a summitin late June on issues of mutual concern in South Korea.
"The remarks of (Japanese) Vice Minister Yachi not only contradict the facts but are also a form of rude diplomacy," Kim said.
The South Korean government will closely watch how Tokyo makes responses with the issue before taking any further measures, said Kim.
Moreover, according to South Korean Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean government will summon Japan's Ambassador Toshiyuki Takano on Thursday afternoon to lodge protest over Yachi's remarks.
South Korean Foreign Ministry's Spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung also demanded Japan issue a public apology over the controversial remarks.
South Korean government's strong reaction came as the Tokyo government failed to respond to the request by the South Korean foreign ministry that Yachi should retract and apologize for his remarks.
The Seoul-Tokyo ties experienced a cold time earlier this year due to their quarrels over a group of controversial islets locatedin the East Sea (Sea of Japan) and Japan's authorization of the Japanese history school books distorting its aggression past.
Source: Xinhua
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