Seoul dismisses Japan's protest on Trump dinner

By Yi Whan-woo

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that Japan is lodging an “inappropriate” protest over Cheong Wa Dae inviting a former “comfort woman” to U.S. President Donald Trump’s state dinner in Seoul, Tuesday.

It also said Cheong Wa Dae’s selection of the menu for the banquet, which featured shrimp caught in waters off Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, was decided after “taking relevant factors into account.”

“Our government made the decision … in a comprehensive manner,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said during a regular press briefing. “We see it as inappropriate to raise issues over the menu for a state dinner and its invited guest.”

Noh said South Korea conveyed its view to Japan through a diplomatic channel.

The announcement came after Japan reacted sensitively to the invitation of Lee Yong-soo, a surviving victim of Japan’s wartime sex slavery, to the dinner hosted by Cheong Wa Dae during Trump’s state visit to Korea.

Japan has claimed that the issues on sex slavery should not be put on the international stage in line with the controversial Seoul-Tokyo accord on “comfort women” in December 2015.

Regarding Dokdo, it claimed its sovereignty over the islets and said the “Dokdo shrimp” could disrupt the efforts for a trilateral alliance with the U.S.

On Wednesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono delivered a message of protest to Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in Danang, Vietnam, where the APEC summit will take place on Saturday and Sunday.

Both Kang and Kono are there to accompany their respective leaders _ President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga separately raised the issue over Lee’s invitation, Tuesday.

When asked about “Dokdo shrimp,” Suga asked Korea to refrain from any measures that can affect the Seoul-Washington-Tokyo alliance against Pyongyang’s military threats.