Foreign Correspondence

[StephanieVanbryce]

S. Korean Trade Minister Cancels Trip to Japan Talks
(Update1)

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- South Korean trade minister Kim Hyun-Chong canceled plans to attend a meeting of Asian trade officials in Japan as a spat over Japanese textbooks sours ties between the two countries and China.

``He was scheduled to come,'' said Akira Chiba, a spokesman at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The South Korean trade official said he had ``a conflict in his schedule.''

South Korea and China this week protested to Japan over the approval of text books they say gloss over Japanese atrocities during its occupation of their countries before and during World War II. South Korea and Japan are also arguing over two islands between the two countries.

The meeting in Chiba prefecture, near Tokyo, to discuss non-agricultural market access will include delegations from the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong. Malaysia has also declined to attend, with representative from China and Indonesia yet to confirm their plans, according to the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry.

Japan's Ministry of Science and Education on Tuesday approved junior high school textbooks that remove references to so-called comfort women in China and Korea who were forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers during World War II.

One says South Korea is illegally occupying the two disputed islands. South Korea calls the islands Dokdo and Japan calls them Takeshima.

South Korea is ``reacting emotionally,'' Japanese government spokesman Seiken Sugiura said yesterday at a regular briefing in Tokyo, after the protest from its neighbor.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun last year designated 2005 as Korea-Japan friendship year and agreed to complete a free trade agreement this year.

The Japanese coast guard on April 5 caught two South Korean fishing boats and arrested their captains for entering the country's waters and illegally fishing there, the Daily Yomiuri reported today, without citing anyone.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Keiichi Yamamura in Tokyo at [e-mail].


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