Naming of South Korean submarine is ‘provocation’, says conservatives in Japan

Conservatives in Japan have dismissed the naming of a new South Korean submarine after a student activist who died after an uprising in 1919 against Tokyo's colonial regime as "just the latest little provocation."

The South Korean navy announced on Sunday that it would name its sixth Type-214 attack submarine Yu Gwan-sun, in honour of the female student who was instrumental in the Korean independence movement, which is marked each year on March 1.

Sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in the uprising, Yu died in prison after apparently being tortured.

The vessel is presently under construction and is scheduled to be delivered in November 2016, navy officials told Yonhap News, and is the first in the history of the service to be named after a woman.

The navy's announcement coincided with President Park Geun-hye using the anniversary to again call on Japan to apologise to the women forced into sexual slavery for its military in the early decades of the last century and for Tokyo to halt efforts to whitewash its history.

"Like Germany and France, who were able to overcome animosity in the past to take the lead in building a new Europe, we hope that Japan can sincerely recognise historical truths and hold hands with Korea," Park said.