As South Korea ponders more government spending to help the economy, one of the casualties is money to promote its side of the argument in a territorial dispute with Japan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently decided to freeze its 2015 budget for the promotion of Seoul's ownership of islets disputed with Tokyo at 4.84 billion won ($4.75 million)--the same as this year's total--after steadily increasing spending for more than a decade.

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