SEOUL (Reuters) – Japan’s largest condom maker was forced to take down advertisements from South Korean subway cars as tensions rise between the two countries over islands claimed by both, officials said on Thursday.

Earlier this week, South Korea recalled its ambassador to Japan and lodged formal complaints in response to fresh territorial claims made by Japan over the islands called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese.

“Having condom ads in a public space might not be acceptable for some people. Secondly, there is an anti-Japanese sentiment brewing among citizens over the Dokdo issue,” a spokesman with Seoul Metro said.

The subway operator informed the South Korean agent for Okamoto Industries of its decision and they reached an agreement to remove about 200 advertisement spots that boast Okamoto’s condoms are “number one in Japan”.

The fight over the rocky outcrops has been a persistent irritant in relations between the neighbors, rekindling memories in South Korea of Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the peninsula.

The disputed islands are controlled by South Korea, which keeps a police presence there, and lie roughly equidistant from the mainlands of both countries.