Demonstrators cut off fingers

Two South Korean demonstrators cut off their fingers outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul today to protest Tokyo’s territorial claim to a set of islets controlled by South Korea.

The protest follows a proposal by Japanese provincial lawmakers to establish a commemoration day to bolster Tokyo’s claim to the small islands, called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Riot police sprayed fire extinguishers to disperse the protesters, who complained of what they called the South Korean government’s “lukewarm” response to the Japanese claims.