Japan may skip naval event in S. Korea after Seoul protests over flag – reports

Tokyo is likely to skip an international fleet review in South Korea next week, Japanese media reported Friday. Seoul earlier asked Tokyo to reconsider flying its “Rising Sun” flag on a warship, in a spat over the countries’ colonial history. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Defense Ministry was considering whether to take part. However,  public broadcaster NHK said Tokyo had already told Seoul it was unlikely to do so. Japan’s relations with both South and North Korea have long been strained by lingering resentment over its colonization of the peninsula, territorial rows and the issue of girls and women forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels, Reuters said. Many people in both Koreas see the red-and-white flag as a symbol of Japan’s past military aggression and its colonization of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.