Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday sent a letter to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to express displeasure over Lee’s recent visit to the Dokdo islets and his call for Emperor Akihito’s apology for his country’s colonial atrocities.

The move came after Tokyo made an official proposal to Seoul to take the spat over Korea’s easternmost islets to the International Court of Justice. Seoul spurned it, saying that the proposal is “not worth even a passing thought.”

Through the letter, which Japan’s foreign ministry sent to a Korean Embassy, Noda argued that the case should be resolved at the ICJ.

“It is a matter of state sovereignty. I will deal with the case with a firm resolve,” he said at a meeting with Muneo Suzuki, head of New Party Daichi.

Earlier in the day, Japan also confirmed that its government is considering scaling down the bilateral currency swap deal, presaging retaliatory action against Korea.


By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)