A Seoul district was forced to backtrack within hours of starting to put up more than 1,000 anti-Japan banners in the centre of the South Korean capital on Tuesday as a trade dispute rages between the neighbours.
Local authority workers began hanging the banners from lampposts in Jung-gu, which includes the popular Myeong-dong shopping district and tourist destinations such as the Deoksugung Palace and the Namdaemun Market.
They featured the word "NO", with the red disc of the Japanese flag as the "O", and read: "I won't go (to Japan), I will not buy (Japanese products)."
Another added: "Japanese tourists are not our enemies."