A Japanese right-wing activist said Saturday he would not honor summons by Seoul prosecutors for him to appear for questioning over his alleged provocative act over South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.
Nobuyuki Suzuki, known as a conservative activist, was sued by a group of former Korean sex slaves for Japan's wartime soldiers for defamation in connection with a controversial wooden post he tied to a symbolic statue of a sex slave in front of the Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul in June.
The wooden post had a sign that read, "Dokdo is Japanese territory."
The statue of a young girl was set up in December by a group of former sex slaves and their supporters to symbolize Korean women who were forced to serve as prostitutes at Japanese military brothels during World War II.
Korean prosecutors earlier this month issued summons for the Japanese activist to appear for questioning on Sept. 18.
In an Internet posting Saturday, Suzuki denied any wrongdoing in connection with the case so he would not respond to the South Korean summons.
"I'm busy for another appointment (on the day Seoul's prosecution designated for questioning), and I don't think I committed any crimes," Suzuki said in a message posted on his blog.
He even ridiculed the Korean summons, saying that he had sent a similar wooden Dokdo stake to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
The prosecutors' office in charge of the case was not immediately available for confirmation.
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were forced into sexual slavery for Japan's World War II soldiers.
South Korea is pressing Japan to pay compensation and extend a formal apology to the victims but Tokyo refuses to do so, saying the matter was settled by a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the two countries.
Tensions run high between the two neighbors over Tokyo's repeated claim to the Korean islets and its leaders' frequent denial of Japan committing any wartime atrocities, including the sexual slavery of Korean women, euphemistically called "comfort women." (Yonhap)