Asia in 3 minutes: Korea summit dessert leaves sour taste in Japanese mouths
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Dessert at landmark Korean summit is hard to digest in Tokyo
A mango mousse that was on the menu for Friday’s summit between the leaders of North and South Korea caused a stir in Tokyo – because it featured a map of the Korean peninsula that included islands Japan claims as its own. The mousse, subtitled “Spring of the People” in a publicity photo for the dinner between the South’s President Moon Jae-in and the North’s Kim Jong-un featured the islands known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea. The islands also feature on the Korean unification flag. “It is extremely regrettable,” a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday, adding that Japan had lodged a protest.
What next? The same flag with the disputed islands featured on the specially made walnut chairs the two leaders sat on during their talks. In February, Japan lodged a protest against a unification flag that was on display during a women’s ice hockey match between a joint North-South Korean team and Sweden. Seoul had earlier said it would not put the islands on the flag it intended to use during the Winter Olympics. But North Korean cheerleaders at the Games used the flag anyway.
