A senior Japanese envoy arrived in Seoul today to seek a middle ground in a standoff over a group of desolate islands claimed by both countries.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi will meet South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan over the dispute that has intensified over Japan's plans to conduct a maritime survey near the contested islands.
South Korean expects Mr Yachi will convey a pledge from Japan not to conduct the survey while the two countries search for a diplomatic solution, Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean Foreign Ministry official as saying.
"I don't know what the result will be, but I would like to have calm and earnest discussions to seek a resolution based on international law," Mr Yachi said before leaving for Seoul.
But Mr Yu said Seoul was not about to back down easily. South Korea has warned of "stern measures" if Japan pressed ahead with a plan to send survey ships to waters near the rocky islands, which Koreans call Tokto and Japanese call Takeshima.
Tokyo has offered to call off the survey if South Korea dropped a plan to register Korean names for seabed areas near the islands at a June international maritime conference.
The desolate islands are about the same distance from the mainlands of the two countries and are controlled by South Korea.
In a show of force, Seoul has ordered its coast guard on high alert and has sent 20 vessels to the disputed waters.
The islands sit in rich fishing grounds, and South Korea's state gas firm says they lie above unexploited energy resources potentially worth billions of dollars.
Seoul is also deeply motivated by rancour over Japan's harsh colonial rule over the peninsula from 1910 to 1945.