Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- Three Japanese lawmakers were denied entry at a South Korean airport Monday after they announced they would attempt a visit to an island near disputed territory in the east sea of Korea.

The lawmakers arrived at Gimpo International Airport near Seoul at 11:20 a.m. but were denied entry by the immigration service, according the Ministry of Justice.

The trio is expected to return to Japan on a later flight, but details were not yet available, the Ministry of Justice said.

The Japanese politicians announced they would visit Ulleung Island -- adjacent to the disputed Dokdo islets -- after the two countries clashed over a civilian aircraft running a test flight over the area.

The islets in the sea east of Korea, known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, have been a prickly issue for both countries. Japan has long claimed the islets as its territory, but Seoul said all Korean territory was returned after the country won independence from colonial rule by Japan in 1945.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry warned Friday that the government would not allow the three politicians to enter the country, saying it cannot guarantee the safety of the lawmakers and that the decision is out of consideration of bilateral relations.

Monday's visit is widely viewed as an act of protest by right-wing politicians after the two countries clashed over the islets last month.

The Japanese government issued a ban on flying with South Korea's flagship airline, advising Japanese officials to refrain from flying with Korean Air in July. Korean Air had conducted a test flight over the islets twice to celebrate the launching of its new aircraft in June.

Seoul demanded Tokyo withdraw the ban, but with no success.

South Koreans view the islets as a source of national pride and have taken various measures to reassert its ownership of the islets. The land is largely uninhabited with only seven registered residents.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/08/0...kers/index.html

These old school right wing guys don't know what they're doing. What do they gain? Nothing. On the other hand, the right wing Japanese politicians exactly wanted a publicity stunt like this in Korea. Now they can make themselves look all persecuted and important. Treating the politicians like nobody tourists would've been better.

Are you saying older Korean generation are wrong?
What they did was expressing their anger, they didn't gain anything because they don't want anything just another publicity. So in a way they gain something called "attention". These Japanese gain only half the attention, publicity from Korea & Japan, nothing more.

If Japanese politicians were attacked by angry Korean nationalists this would have became No.1 global news @ CNN, BBC, ABC because Japanese media have extensive connection with Western media and they will use them to portray Korea as "Bad guy".

Japan will gain nothing because they also have territorial disputes with China and Russia even U.S on Guam/Saipan.
Some right wing Japanese doesn't like what's happening in Japan right now due to rise of popularity of K-pop and Korean culture, so they poked at some right wing Japanese politicians to stir up Anti-Korean sentiment from Japan but didn't worked out the way they have planned it. Dokdo issue is only Japanese right wing activists can abuse right now to break up close relation between Korea and Japan.

Funny how the anti-China people are nowhere to be found in threads like this. Not saying China is treating the ROK well, but when you still have hegemonic colonialism being imposed on the ROK from its island neighbour to the east (i.e. Japan), I think this is a life or death issue for the ROK.

This IS our most pressing issue. This must be resolved, first and foremost, because it's a very threat to the ROK's sovereignty. Real pro-Koreans care about this issue.

Fake pro-Koreans don't post about this, because they don't mind Japan encroaching on the ROK's hard-earned sovereignty.

^ Calm down. You tend to repeat that line of thought. Do you know how many territorial disputes exist in the world? Should they all go bonkers about it? Sure, be aware of the issue. And then what? Just today, another Korean coast guard was killed while trying to arrest illegal Chinese fishermen. This is one of the practical issues to solve at hand among the problems with neighbors.

this news is on headline of many main chinese new websites, there are people blaming the government and fishermen, and also angry youths being defensive. I can't represent anyone else but I feel terribly sorry for the guard, I don't know much about the details how exactly the fishermen ended up stabbing the guard but they really shouldn't go into other country's waters. Hope they get what they deserve.

Only if people like you were the majority. My impression at this point is that there seems to be some sort of "reverse resentment" among the Chinese public because some influential Chinese media has depicted the events as if the illegal fishermen were almost innocent victims who were bullied by evil Koreans, leaving out the continuous stream of illegal activities and crimes committed by them not in isolation but on a regular basis. Accidents can happen but that is the most disappointing part. If the situation was reversed, oh well.

Funny how the anti-China people are nowhere to be found in threads like this. Not saying China is treating the ROK well, but when you still have hegemonic colonialism being imposed on the ROK from its island neighbour to the east (i.e. Japan), I think this is a life or death issue for the ROK.

This IS our most pressing issue. This must be resolved, first and foremost, because it's a very threat to the ROK's sovereignty. Real pro-Koreans care about this issue.

Fake pro-Koreans don't post about this, because they don't mind Japan encroaching on the ROK's hard-earned sovereignty.

I see. It's the Japanese that are crawling into the naval boundaries of Korea, exploiting its fisheries and killing Korean coast guards and officers. What a joke. I'm not a Japanophile nor a Sinophobe. But you must be out of your mind to suggest 'Japan encroaching on the ROK's hard-earned sovereignty' is a more serious issue for the Koreans rather than China that is invading Korean EEZ on a daily basis. Is Japan the country that is assisting the Dear-Leader? Did Japan refuse to admit or denounce the sinking of ROK Cheonan or the bombing of Yeongpyong Islands?

Japan attempted to wipe Korea off the map. Not just the country, but the language and culture. Brutually murdered untold numbers of Korean men, women and children and used the women as sex slaves. Wake me up when China attempts to do these things to Korea.

This is unforgiveable. Even if Japan begged for forgiveness and paid reparations to the sex-slave victims, the victims' families and the Korean government on an annual basis, MORE must be extracted from Japan. I'm talking trillions of dollars every year.

I hope Korea NEVER forgets that dark period of colonialist hell that it had to go through because of the Japanese in the 20th century. The pain of that period will FOREVER reverberate in Korea.

Japan attempted to wipe Korea off the map. Not just the country, but the language and culture. Brutually murdered untold numbers of Korean men, women and children and used the women as sex slaves. Wake me up when China attempts to do these things to Korea.

This is unforgiveable. Even if Japan begged for forgiveness and paid reparations to the sex-slave victims, the victims' families and the Korean government on an annual basis, MORE must be extracted from Japan. I'm talking trillions of dollars every year.

I hope Korea NEVER forgets that dark period of colonialist hell that it had to go through because of the Japanese in the 20th century. The pain of that period will FOREVER reverberate in Korea.