Japan denies it wants to expand territorial claims in East China Sea

Japan on Wednesday denied telling South Korea it wants to expand its exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, contradicting an earlier news report.

Kyodo News agency quoted unidentified sources as saying Japanese negotiators told their South Korean counterparts earlier this week that Tokyo wants to claim an area up to Torishima island in Nagasaki Prefecture, expanding toward the South Korean side.

But a Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol, denied that report.

"The report is not true," the official said. "We did discuss territorial issues in the East China Sea, but Japan did not put forward such claims."

He added, however, that Japanese and South Korean claims in those waters were unresolved.

Japanese officials said Tuesday talks over a row over a separate set of islands in the Sea of Japan ended with no breakthrough.

Those islands -- called Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean -- were the neighbors' first on the issue in six years. Both sides want the islands as a basis to claim exclusive rights over rich natural resources in the area. (AP)

June 14, 2006