The government is set to delay the planned release later this week of its annual report on national defense policies, as it seeks to avoid inflaming a territorial dispute with South Korea ahead of a key anniversary related to bilateral ties next month, according to sources.
The rare decision reflects Tokyo's eagerness to avoid any action that could provoke South Korean protests ahead of the Aug. 29 centenary of Japan's annexation of the Korean Peninsula, as the paper, already partly printed, describes a disputed pair of islets as an integral part of Japanese territory, the sources said.
But on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku only said the defense paper "needs some more time for editing so it can include how the international community has dealt with the issue of a South Korean warship" torpedoed by North Korea.