Twenty South Korean men chopped off the tips of their little fingers today in a public protest at a decision by Japan's prime minister to visit a war shrine.
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Japan's prime minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, on his vist to the Yasukuni Shrine
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Mr Junichiro Koizumi would be only the third Japanese premier to visit the Yasukuni Shrine since convicted war criminals were enshrined there in 1978. The proposed visit has caused anger in South Korea and China.
The Koreans' protest was staged in a Seoul park near the Independence Gate that was used as a jail for anti-Japanese fighters when the Korean peninsula was occupied by Japan from 1910 to 1945.
The men, dressed in black, cut off their fingers before using South Korean national flags to bandage their wounds with the help of doctors. The men, nearly all in their twenties, called themselves the "Save The Nation Squad".
Cutting off the little finger is a traditional gesture in South Korea to show determination. It was often used in the past by gangsters.
Anti-Japanese protesters were also outside the Japanese embassy as it was announced in Tokyo that Mr Koizumi was to visit the Yasukuni war shrine today.
The South Korean government had warned it would take strong action if Mr Koizumi went ahead with a visit planned initially for Wednesday, the anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese control on August 15th, 1945.
AFP