Tokyo Asks South Korea To Boost Security Near Japanese Diplomatic Missions - Cabinet

Tokyo Asks South Korea to Boost Security Near Japanese Diplomatic Missions - Cabinet

Tokyo demanded on Tuesday that Seoul increase security measures around its diplomatic missions in South Korea following an incident in which several people broke into a Japanese consulate to stage anti-Tokyo demonstrations

TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2019) Tokyo demanded on Tuesday that Seoul increase security measures around its diplomatic missions in South Korea following an incident in which several people broke into a Japanese consulate to stage anti-Tokyo demonstrations.

South Korean police apprehended six people on Monday for allegedly illegally entering the Japanese consulate in the the country's southeastern city of Busan and participating in protests. While carrying posters that criticized Japan's recent decision to tighten its control of some high-tech material exports to South Korea, protesters shouted "Japan must apologize."

"We shared our opinions on this matter with the South Korean government through our consulate in Seoul and have requested that it strengthen security around our diplomatic missions and other agencies that have ties to Tokyo," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, as quoted by the Japanese Kyodo news outlet.

On Friday, a 78-year-old South Korean man died after setting himself on fire near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Police said the man had called an acquaintance prior to the act and told him that the self-immolation was meant to express his hostility toward Japan. Reportedly, one of the man's family members had been a forced laborer during Japan's colonial rule over Korea.

Relations between the two Asian neighbors deteriorated after South Korean courts ruled last year that a number of Japanese companies had to pay reparations to Koreans who were forced into labor during World War II by Japan, which was then a colonial power. As a response, Japan introduced restrictions in early July on exports of some high-tech materials, such as fluorinated polyimides, photoresist and hydrogen fluoride, which are used by South Korean technology firms to produce semiconductors and displays.