South Korea, Japan to hold foreign ministers' talks next week

SOUTH KOREA: South Korea's foreign minister said Wednesday he will meet his Japanese counterpart at a regional forum next week, the highest-level meeting between the two countries since their dispute over islands flared anew last month.

"Consultations are under way to hold foreign ministers' talks between South Korea and Japan" during the May 23-24 Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Doha, Qatar, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told reporters.

He said details of the meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso were still under discussion.

A long-running dispute over a group of small islands, called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, flared again last month when Japan said it would conduct a maritime survey in nearby waters.

South Korea strongly protested Japan's plan, calling it "trespassing." South Korea effectively controls the islets where a small police detachment of about 30 people is stationed.

"I want to make it clear that Dokdo cannot be the subject of diplomatic negotiations nor can it be an issue to be taken to the International Court of Justice," Ban said Wednesday. "I say once again that Dokdo is historically our land." The island is a rich fishing ground believed to also have deposits of methane hydrate, a potential natural gas source.

South Korea still harbors deep-rooted bitterness toward Japan for its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Japan's relations with Asian neighbors such as South Korea and China have strained over a number issues, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to a Tokyo war shrine, as well as school textbooks that critics say gloss over its wartime atrocities.

In an interview with Japan's Kyodo News agency last week, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said Beijing "does not reject" the possibility of its foreign minister meeting his Japanese counterpart during the ACD meeting, but warned that Koizumi's visits to the shrine have had a negative impact.

SEOUL,Wednesday AP