US deputy secretary of state was left to answer questions alone amid simmering tensions over Takeshima/Dokdo islands

A long-running territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea has burst on to the global stage after their vice foreign ministers failed to attend a press conference in Washington with their US counterpart.

South Korean’s first vice-foreign minister, Choi Jong-kun, and Japan’s vice foreign minister, Takeo Mori, had been due to appear alongside the US deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, on Wednesday after the three countries discussed regional tensions, including Chinese military activity in the South China Sea and North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.