3 Japanese lawmakers sent home

Japanese lawmakers Yoshitaka Shindo, right, Sato Masahisa, center, and Tomomi Inata walk toward the waiting room at Gimpo International Airport to be briefed on the reason of their entry denial to Korea, Monday.

/ Korea Times photo by Kim Joo-young

By Park Si-soo, Chung Min-uck

Three Japanese lawmakers returned home Monday night after a nine-hour protest against the Korean government’s decision not to allow them to enter Korea.

The government saw their visit as part of ploy to attract attention to their claim to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.

Yoshitaka Shindo, Tomomi Inada and Masahisa Sato from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) left for Japan on a Tokyo-bound flight at 8:10 p.m., nearly nine hours after they arrived at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul.

Their decision to leave came when the immigration authorities told them that they would be treated just like any other illegal aliens and rounded up in a holding cell.

Officials said they bought dried seaweed and other Korean foods at duty-free shops. Shindo said, “We will come to Korea again,” leaving open the possibility for another round of confrontation.

Earlier, Tokyo’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters that the legislators’ visit was “legitimate” and the Japanese government “cannot accept” Seoul's response. Japan also delivered a written complaint over this to Korea via the Japanese embassy in Seoul.

The Korean government notified them in advance that they would be denied entry, citing the Immigration Control Act that enables it to deny the entry of foreign citizens whose purpose of visiting is “obviously to deal a blow to the country’s public interest and safety.”

Their visit was the latest in a series of Japan’s premeditated acts of provocation to dispute Korea’s sovereignty of Dokdo, located about 90 kilometers east of Ulleung Island in the East Sea. The three lawmakers planned to visit Ulleung on a four-day trip to Korea to “inspect how the island is managed.”

The three lawmakers arrived at Gimpo International Airport at around 11:10 a.m. The airport officials originally tried to send them back to Japan at 12:40 a.m. but failed as they refused to leave, questioning the legality of the deportation measure.

They were briefed on the reason of their entry denial by Korean officials.

A Japanese rightist professor from Takushoku University in Tokyo tried to enter the nation through Incheon International Airport one day ahead of the lawmakers’ visit in an attempt to escape the entry ban by the Korean government.

But professor Shimojo Masao was sent back to Japan four hours after landing at 1:40 a.m. Monday for the same reason.

More than 1,000 protesters gathered at the airport’s parking lot, holding up placards and waving Korean national flags to protest the Japanese legislators’ entry attempt.

Political parties were in rare unity against the matter too.

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, spokesman of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), said in a statement, ``The Japanese lawmaker’s trip to Ulleung Island is not only a clear act of invasion but also a repetition of its past misdeeds.”

Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), lashed out at the LDP members.

``No one can deny that Dokdo is our territory,” Sohn said during a Supreme Council meeting. “We should handle the problem in a decisive and honorable manner not to deteriorate the relationship between Korea and Japan any further.”

A Seoul official said the government is deciding on the level of countermeasures. So far, the Korean government has only been protesting verbally by summoning the Japanese ambassador to Korea and expressing Korea’s disappointment in response to Japan’s release of the book.

Yet, this time insiders expect the Korean government to take stronger measures concerning this situation.

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