Dessert for inter-Korean summit dinner gets on Japan's nerves

By Lim Chang-won Posted : April 25, 2018, 17:24 Updated : April 25, 2018, 17:24

[Courtesy of the presidential Blue House]


SEOUL -- A mango mousse dessert being prepared for this week's historic inter-Korean summit is apparently getting on Tokyo's nerves as it will be capped with an edible map of a unified Korean peninsula and a South Korea-controlled island which was also claimed by Japan.

According to Japan's broadcaster NHK, Kenji Kanasugi, the director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceania affairs, lodged a protest at talks with a senior South Korean Embassy official in Tokyo. He reportedly expressed regrets and urged Seoul to drop the dessert from the dinner menu.

The reported protest came after the office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in released the picture of the dessert encased in a shell made from Swiss chocolate.

Along with the Korean peninsula, the dessert showed  Dokdo, a chain of islets located in the middle of waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan. The South Korea-controlled islets have been the source of diplomatic wrangling due to Japan's consistent claim.

In November last year, Japan protested a dish of shrimp served at a state banquet for U.S. President Donald Trump in Seoul. The shrimp has a symbolic meaning as it is only caught in the deep waters around Dokdo. At the time, Seoul dismissed any hidden agenda behind the shrimp and accused Tokyo of taking issue with South Korea's state event.
 
Pyongyang has sided with Seoul when a diplomatic dispute intensified over Dokdo.  

 
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