Thursday, July 24, 2008Kyodo News
A long-standing territorial row between Japan and South Korea that flared up earlier this month is causing more cancellations and postponements of municipal cultural exchange programs.
The town of Rifu in Miyagi Prefecture canceled a project to send three female high school students to South Korea's Uijeongbu in early August for short home-stays after the South Korean city said it had scotched the project, citing the territorial dispute as the main reason.
Shikitama Elementary School in the city of Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture, was planning to accept 16 students from South Korean schools with sisterly relations for home-stays, but this plan was also called off.
At issue in the territorial dispute is a pair of South Korean-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan claimed by both countries, called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea. Earlier this month, the Japanese government decided to effectively note for the first time Japan's claim to sovereignty over the islets in a teaching guideline for junior high schools, sparking a backlash in South Korea.
The mayor and assembly members from the city of Yeongcheon in South Korea also decided to cancel their visit to the city of Kuroishi, Aomori Prefecture, scheduled to start July 30, blaming mounting anti-Japanese sentiment in the city in North Gyeongsang Province. The islets fall under the jurisdiction of the province.
According to the city of Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, junior high students from the South Korean city of Chuncheon were supposed to visit in August, while Japanese students were set to stay in the South Korean city in the fall.
However, Chuncheon sent a letter to Kakamigahara, saying, "It is not wise for us to carry out the project at such a time."
Meanwhile, the Tottori prefectural board of education announced Tuesday it has been notified by education authorities in Gangwon Province, South Korea, that they are canceling all exchange programs between the two districts due to the dispute.
The notice to Hiroki Nakanaga, head of the board of education, said the Japanese government's decision to include a claim of sovereignty over the islets in a teaching guideline has made it difficult to maintain the exchange programs, according to the board.
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