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SEOUL: South Korea said on Wednesday it has urged Japan not to carry out scientific research near a cluster of islets at the centre of a long-running territorial dispute between the two countries.
The foreign ministry said it had delivered a message asking Japan to avoid any research projects around the rocky islets lying midway between the two nations, but which are controlled by Seoul.
The Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reported on Tuesday that Tokyo has drafted a 10-year plan to carry out an aggressive survey near the islets in search of energy resources.
Called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, the islets have for decades been a flashpoint in relations, with both sides claiming sovereignty. The surrounding seabed holds huge gas hydrate deposits.
Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified official as saying Seoul rejected Tokyo's proposal to discuss the territorial issue at a summit next week between Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
Aso will come to Seoul on Sunday. It will be his first visit here since he took office in September last year.
Lee's office said the summit on Monday would cover ways to develop friendly relations, North Korea's nuclear programme and cooperation in the economic sector.
The summit comes as the two countries are seeking a new relationship following years of frosty ties over Japan's renewed claim to the islets.
Japan claimed the islands in 1905 after winning a war with Russia. It went on to annex the entire Korean peninsula from 1910 until its defeat in 1945 at the end of World War II.
South Korea, however, says its ownership of the islets dates back centuries.
- AFP/so
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