Another spat with Japan is brewing over the Dokdo islets controversy:
Despite Japan’s declaration of a new era for Seoul-Tokyo relations, Japan’s Foreign Ministry is continuing its territorial claim over Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.
The ministry posted on its Internet homepage a document reiterating its territorial claim over Dokdo, which Japan calls "Takeshima."
In February, the ministry also posted an electronic booklet on the claim in Japanese, Korean and English.
In the booklet, the ministry claims that "Takeshima" is Japanese territory in historical fact and under international law. [KBS Global]
The Chosun Ilbo is running an article on this latest spat as well. What is interesting about this is that the Japanese Foreign Ministry has maintained a website dedicated to the Takeshima/Dokdo issue for quite some time, they just added a PDF document to the site that is now causing the latest controversy. This document actually offers nothing new and just summarizes the information already on the Foreign Ministry website, but in a more readable package.
Like the entire Dokdo issue itself, this latest controversy is stupid and I don’t expect new Korean President Lee Myung-bak to demagogue the issue and declare "diplomatic war" against Japan like his presidential predecessor Roh Moo-hyun.
Popularity: 7%
My StumbleUpon Page
10:07 am on April 11th, 2008 1
This and today’s news that the US is likely going to ask Seoul to send Korean troops (and real troops) back to Afghanistan are two early tests that should help us get a good fix on what kind of administration Lee will have for the next 5 years.
I feel fairly confident he will send troops back into Afghanistan and combat or security troops at that. It’s a bold move inside Korea, it gives SK some status in the global community, it seeks to recover from the shame of how Korean “troops” were pulled out of Afghanistan, it brings Korea closer to the US after almost 10 years of growing divide, and it gives South Korea’s military experience - among other things.
I am not so confident on how Lee will handle this recent Dokdo item.
I’ve seen too many times where Korean conservatives rise to real or perceived challenges to their sense of nationalism. Even with the conservatives, they have had a habit of at times setting aside national interests in favor of venting nationalistic spleen.
I don’t picture Lee’s administration venting spleen over this.
But, I can picture a situation in which the reaction of the Korean press and NGOs and regular citizens leads Lee’s administration to say a lot of stuff in the press (that it doesn’t back up with actions) against Japan.
I doubt much will come of it, but if the Korean press gets going even slighly significantly on Dokdo, and Lee’s administration says next to nothing, it will be a telling sign.