July 31, 2008SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea welcomed Thursday a U.S. reversal of a recent decision on the name status of the islets at the center of a territorial dispute between Seoul and Tokyo.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names recently altered the islands' listing from South Korean to "nondesignated sovereignty," a development that angered South Koreans ahead of next week's summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and President Lee Myung-bak.
"The swift action shows President Bush fully understands the sentiment of South Koreans, and is an outcome that reflected deep trust and friendship between the two leaders," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said in comments posted on the presidential Web site.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry also issued a similar statement welcoming the U.S. move.
The reversal came after Bush asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to look into the matter, White House Asia adviser Dennis Wilder told reporters, who said Washington determined that the change "was not warranted at this time."
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow reiterated that the U.S. position had not changed.
"We're happy that we've changed the Web site back to the way it was a week ago. ... We are sorry that this gave rise to lots of unhelpful speculation," he told reporters after a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.
The Japanese government reacted calmly to the U.S. reversal.
"There is no need for us to overreact to a decision made by just one organization in the United States," top Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura said.
The rocky outcroppings -- called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese -- have long been a source of discord between South Korea and its former colonial ruler Japan.
South Korea recalled its ambassador from Japan earlier this month to protest a recommendation that a government teaching manual refer to Tokyo's claims to the South Korean-controlled islets.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo visited the islands earlier this week as the highest-level official ever to travel there, drawing criticism from Tokyo.
Many in Korea still harbor deep resentment toward Japan because of Tokyo's 1910-45 harsh colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
In Tokyo, police seized a South Korean man Thursday after he cut his finger with a box cutter on a pedestrian walk near the Prime Minister's office to protest Japan's territorial claim over the islands, a police official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
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* South Korea's prime minister visits islets at center of dispute with Japan
(Mainichi Japan) July 31, 2008
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