Day of tensions between Japan and South Korea.
As the Tokyo Olympics begin next Friday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Saturday that the South Korean delegation had removed banners from the balconies of the apartments it occupies in the Tokyo Olympic Village.
The reason: they contained words referring to a 16th century war between the two countries.
Hanging from the balconies of South Korean athletes' rooms, they spelled out the message: "I still have the support of 50 million Koreans," taking inspiration from the words of a 16th-century Korean naval admiral before a battle won against a much superior Japan: “I still have 12 battleships left”.
South Korea's Olympic committee said it has removed banners at the Olympic athletes' village in Tokyo that referred to a 16th-century war between Korea and Japan after the International Olympic Committee ruled it was provocative.https: //t.co/9QIBuRwHHD
- Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 17, 2021
By agreeing to withdraw the banners, the South Koreans claimed to have received from the IOC a promise that the display of the Japanese flag of the "rising sun" would be banned from stadiums and other Olympic venues.
This flag, depicting a red sun with 16 rays extending outward, is seen by many in South Korea as a symbol of Japan's wartime past, which notably occupied the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.
Diplomatic tensions
In addition, during the day, Seoul summoned the Japanese ambassador after a remark "not very diplomatic" about South Korean President Moon Jae-in and a possible summit during the Olympics, announced the South Korean ministry. Korean Foreign Office. South Korean cable channel JTBC unidentifiedly quoted a high-ranking Japanese diplomat who mocked Mr. Moon's wish to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, saying the South Korean president was "masturbating" and delivering "A standoff only with itself" because Japan "does not have the space to pay attention to Seoul-Tokyo relations".
The two countries are currently in discussions on the organization of a high-level meeting during the Olympics to improve their relations which are at their lowest for years due to historic disputes.