South Korea's Oceans and Fisheries Ministry said on Thursday that it will soon start live streaming from a pair of disputed islets in the Sea of Japan that are also claimed by Japan.
The ministry said the Internet service commencing Friday will enable citizens to easily see the South Korean-controlled islets anytime and from anywhere, adding that it seeks to increase the public's interest in and affinity toward the territory.
In response to the announcement, Takehiro Funakoshi, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, protested to Kim Yong Gil, a counselor at South Korean Embassy in Tokyo, and demanded that the live webcast plan to be scrapped.
The rocky outcrops, known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, have long been a source of tension between the two neighbors. South Korea has been in effective control of them since the 1950s.
Related coverage:
Japan frets over South Korea's Olympic food site set up on Fukushima woes
Japan, U.S. get S. Korean heads-up on comm. line reopening with North
Japan, S. Korea fail to narrow gap over wartime history issues
