Japanese lawmaker raises prospect of war to ‘reclaim’ islets controlled by South Korea

Lower house legislator Hodaka Maruyama asked in a tweet on Saturday whether war wasn’t ‘the only way to get them back’

He was previously expelled from a political party for broaching the subject of war in relation to another set of islands controlled by Russia

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Hodaka Maruyama. Photo: Twitter | @maruyamahodaka

Published: 6:22pm, 3 Sep 2019Updated: 6:24pm, 3 Sep 2019

A Japanese lawmaker claimed his right to free speech was being curtailed on Tuesday after he suggested war with South Korea would settle a territorial dispute between it and Japan.

“I only raised a question, and there is nothing wrong with it in terms of the constitution and law. I won’t give in to pressure trying to suppress [free] speech,” lower house legislator Hodaka Maruyama said on Twitter.

“What have politicians who are in a position to decide and negotiate done so far?” he asked, taking issue with what he sees as the Diet’s inaction in protesting South Korean defence drills and a visit by lawmakers to a group of disputed islands.

Maruyama, who belongs to NHK Kara Kokumin Wo Mamoru To (the party to protect the people from NHK [Japan’s national broadcasting organisation]), tweeted on Saturday, “Isn’t war the only way to get them back?” referencing the group of South Korea-controlled, Japan-claimed islands that were recently visited by a group of lawmakers.

South Korean armed forces hold an exercise on islets known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japan. Photo: EPA

The two countries have been at loggerheads over the islands, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, and the lawmakers’ visit came amid worsening bilateral ties over wartime history and trade policy.

The chill has led to Seoul’s termination of an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan.