A South Korean activist rammed his truck into the Japanese embassy gate as a sign of protest against a Japanese activist who visited Seoul earlier. According to AFP, Japan has already filed a formal diplomatic complaint about the incident.

The 61-year old activist, only known by his surname Kim, drove his light truck directly into the gate just before 5 a.m. No one was injured in the incident. Kim told police that he was protesting against Japanese activist Nobuyuki Suzuki, after he had set up a post next to a bronze statue of a young girl symbolizing the plight of Korean “comfort women” in World War II. Suzuki was on a protest of his own at that time to reaffirm Japan’s claims on disputed islands with South Korea. He was reported as calling the “comfort women” prostitutes.

“Comfort women” have been a controversial issue between South Korea and Japan. Local women were forced into wartime sex-slavery for the Japanese military. Tokyo has also rejected talks for providing compensation for Korean “comfort women”.