Dots make a difference

Dots make a difference

BUSAN, South Korea: There is a whole "dot" of difference
between the North and South Korean versions of their symbolic
"unification flag" at the Asian Games.

The North's version has a dot representing an islet disputed
with former colonial ruler Japan. The version of games host South
Korea does not.

"Personally, I think it would be better to have the islet. But
the flag is about inter-Korean reconciliation, not about Japanese
affairs," said an official at Busan City Hall.

The original design of the white flag with a blue image of the
Korean Peninsula, made in 1991, lacks the islet, called Tok-do in
the two Koreas and Takeshima in Japan.

Amid increasing claims over the islet by Japan, the North and
civic activists in the South have recently added the dot. But the
dot was missing on flags handed out to South Korean cheer groups
by the Busan government during the games.--AP