Bitter remarks ramp up dispute between Seoul, Tokyo

Tokyo has been accused of "cutting off" all dialogue with Seoul, as bitter remarks between South Korea and Japan continued on Wednesday over their disputed islands.

Although Tokyo said its ambassador to Seoul will soon return to his office, analysts said they were concerned over the possibility of bilateral spats and retaliatory moves becoming constant.

Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday reported that Tokyo cut off "all South Korea-Japan dialogue channels" after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited the disputed islands on Aug 10, which Seoul calls Dokdo and Japan calls Takeshima.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (front R) visits a set of remote islands called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, east of Seoul August 10, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

The visit triggered massive spats between the two neighbors, and Tokyo canceled a finance ministers' meeting scheduled for Saturday, saying it would review a foreign exchange swap agreement with Seoul.

Tokyo is also considering canceling more bilateral ministerial meetings, including one during the ASEAN finance ministers' meeting on Aug 29 and 30 and a convention on liquefied petroleum gas scheduled to begin in late September, according to Yonhap.

Despite the threats to cancel the meetings, the strained ties "will see little chance for going out of control", said Zhang Liangui, a professor on Korean Peninsula studies at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

"The current messages of canceling bilateral talks are sent to show toughness. Otherwise, the leaders of both sides will receive torrential criticism from the public," Zhang said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said duirng a meeting with his ministers on Tuesday that Lee's visit "does not fit with our policy and it is extremely regrettable".

AFP contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn