Japanese demand change to menu for Korea summit

JAPAN has demanded that South Korea rethinks a mango mousse dessert it plans to serve at the North-south summit dinner tomorrow, because it features a map of the Korean peninsula that includes islands disputed with Japan, a recurring irritant for Tokyo.

The mousse, subtitled “Spring of the People”, is served with an image of the islands – known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea – which are located in the Sea of Japan, which Seoul refers to as the East Sea.

“It is extremely regrettable,” a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday, adding that Japan had lodged a protest. “We have asked that the dessert not be served.”

The dispute comes as the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in prepare to meet to discuss Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

Relations between the two Koreas and Japan have long been strained by territorial disputes and resentment over Imperial Japan’s colonisation of the Korean peninsula during the Second World War.