By Here is some more Dokdo nonsense for everyone:
Members of a domestic organization promoting Korea’s territorial rights over the Dokdo islets are demanding that Japan abolish the “Takeshima Day” that Shimane Prefecture has designated for February 22nd.
“Takeshima” is the word the Japanese use to refer to the Korean islets in the East Sea.
The members of the Dokdo Defense Network made the demand in a news conference held outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Friday morning.
Some loony Korean nationalist group making absurd demands of the Japanese government is nothing new, however this is what caught my eye with this article:
The organization said Japan is attempting to rob Korea of the Dokdo islets, adding that it will dispatch a team to Shimane Prefecture to prevent the Japanese from holding the commemorative ceremony.
So will this group dispatch the Dokdo Racers, knife in the gut man, flag eater man, finger chopping ajumma, the Dokdo Riders, the pheasant smashers, and my favorite of all bee man to invade Shimane Prefecture to stop Takeshima Day? Seriously I would pay the Pay-Per-View rate to see such nonsense.
3:01 am on February 22nd, 2010 1
Whenever they visit Tokto, aren't they already visiting Shimane Prefecture?
So will this group dispatch the Dokdo Racers, knife in the gut man, flag eater man, finger chopping ajumma, the Dokdo Riders, the pheasant smashers, and my favorite of all bee man
Maybe they'll dispatch someone to go against the the hand-chopper, the Black Vans, or one of the assassins.
Really, this is all kinds of stupid. Just go to the islets, release a letter condemning the prefectural in front of some press cameras. That you can do this on Tokto and the Shimane politicos cannot says it all.
I would normally finish this post by linking to a Japan Times article from 2005 that supports the Korean position vis-à-vis the Shimane issue, but it has since been altered to reflect the "party line."
10:26 am on February 22nd, 2010 2
The nationalists are truly a nuisance in Japan. They really aren't winning any friends. I've seen them plant themselves on the sidewalk at busy intersections blasting away their anti-Korean message (my wife speaks Japanese, so I'll take her word for it) at eardrum shattering levels so pedestrians and drivers could still clearly hear them a mile away. You could tell people were annoyed, but nobody would say a thing because these nutjobs had cameras rolling. Clearly, they were hoping someone would try to interfere.
1:41 pm on February 22nd, 2010 3
Seriously what would one expect from Koreans when Japan creates a day honoring land grabs during her expansionist era.
Historical context included Japan's Takeshima Day should rightfully be called "Happy Russo-Japanese War Day"
http://www.dokdo-takeshima.com/wordpress/wp-conte…
9:41 pm on February 22nd, 2010 4
Mr. Barber, "Japan" did not create a Takeshima Day, it was Shimane Prefecture's local government. Please put the broad brush back into the toolbox and take out a smaller one.
12:25 am on February 23rd, 2010 5
MD in MA.
Are you telling me the Dokdo Takeshima dispute is an issue between Korea and Shimane Prefecture?
Shimane Prefecture created Takeshima Day and the Japanese government bowed to pressure from Japan’s right wing and endorsed this celebration of Japanese colonialism.
You can see Japan’s MOFA’s propaganda brochure here.
http://www.dokdo-takeshima.com/japans-mofas-propa…
Please follow the links and study the problem more MD. My brushes work fine, better than your crayons
3:48 am on February 23rd, 2010 6
How important do you think the issue is to most people? It probably figures somewhere down the list after "must remember to buy milk" and "does my butt look big?".
1:18 pm on February 23rd, 2010 7
Teadrinker, you make a good point. But remember this is an issue about Koreans and not “most people”
For about 500 years Japanese residents from Shimane (Tottori) have been illegally voyaging Westward onto Chosun (Korea) land. This was even after repeated promises by their Shogunate to stay away. Japan has been trying to steal Ulleungdo and Dokdo for centuries.
The Koreans may seem to be overreacting at a glance. However if you look at Japan’s insidious lobby campaign these days, their anger is justified.
Take the time to study Japan’s aggressive policy toward territorial expansionism and EEZs and you’ll understand better
1:24 pm on February 23rd, 2010 8
I want to reiterate the thing about EEZs. Japan's position that islets/features like Tokto and Okinotorishima could generate an EEZ stands in contrast with South Korea's lack of such an approach.
Though South Korea can do a better job of following the 1998 fisheries agreement, its willingness to make such an agreement indicates that — except for smaller territorial waters around Tokto — it is only generating an EEZ from UllĹngdo to Japan's outer islands. It is Japan that would try to redraw the EEZ and grab much more control of EEZ waters.
1:25 am on February 24th, 2010 9
Kushibo the Koreans shouldn’t have entered any fishing agreements with Japan that granted Japanese fishermen the right to fish waters surrounding Dokdo Island. It is a nice gesture however, from a legal standpoint, it could be legally twisted into degradation of Korean sovereignty over Dokdo Takeshima.
Korean lawmakers were rightfully pissed when the Roh Government allowed the fishing agreement to pass and went into damage control mode by insisting on a 12 mile limit around Dokdo.
I have seen a couple of news articles that stated Koreans would be using Dokdo as a basepoint for their EEZ which would really hurt Japan’s fishermen of Shimane and I’m not sure this has become official ROK policy or not. But it appears so.
Remember Japan started using Dokdo as its EEZ years ago. And it was in 2006 Korea decided to do the same from what I understand
http://www.dokdonews.net/?p=27
Takeshima Day was a big failure because it forced the Koreans to dig in their heels. Since 2005 Koreans had started to play hardball and are still in the process of increasing acts of sovereignty over Dokdo,
Some examples are:
Desalinization facilities recently installed.
Solar power generators.
Opening the islets up for hundreds of thousands of tourists.
Planting trees to make the islets “legally” inhabitable.
Considering allowing more people to reside on Dokdo.
Installing cellular phone transmission equipment.
EEZ extension as Dokdo for a basepoint.
All of the above were a reactions from Japanese provocation either by their silly Takeshima Day, schoolbook publications or propaganda flyers printed by Japan’s MOFA or Shimane Prefecture.
Is the Korean government just supposed to sit back and let the Japanese Government hammer away at them?
3:37 am on February 24th, 2010 10
While I agree with you that Takeshima Day was ultimately a bad thing for Shimane to have done and for Tokyo to have "allowed," it did call the circus into town vis-à-vis people going overboard. Ah, now I have an excuse to link to this post from five years ago.
Anyway, I'm not sure I'm remembering the fisheries agreement they way you are, and I'm too busy this a.m. to look it up right now. I don't think Kim Daejung was ever allowing Japanese fishing to go on in the territorial waters around Tokto (or UllĹngdo) as if it were merely an EEZ.
And yeah, Japan's push for Tokto has gotten South Korea to inch forward with the idea of an EEZ generated by Tokto. This is why Japan doesn't like South Korea adding "improvements" to Tokto, like dock improvements, building improvements, cell phone service, etc.
Of all people, I think it was Gerry Bevers who came up with what I think is the best way out of this quagmire: Japan officially acknowledge South Korea's claim on Tokto while South Korea tacitly acknowledges Japan's EEZ claim around Okinotorishima. This would tick off China, so it has to be done when Korea doesn't care about ticking off China, or they need to tick them off as a tactical move (like in response to China rounding up North Koreans).
12:51 pm on April 19th, 2010 11
Kushibo,
I never said what you claim I said because there no evidence that Koreans ever traveled to Takeshima (Dokdo) before Japanese fishermen started taking them there in the early 1900s.
I did suggest that both countries agree to make it a wildlife preserve, administered by both countries. It is beyond stupid to be developing that stupid rock and wasting fuel and time taking Korean tourists out to see it.
Dokdo should not be used to draw the EEZ of either country.
11:25 am on April 20th, 2010 12
Hmm… just now I looked, and it appears that I thought it was you, but I was conflating something you wrote with something sewing had written.
You wrote (LINK):
So what is the solution?
I think Japan could concede the islets to Korea in exchange for more exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The EEZ line could even be drawn to allow a ten to fifteen kilometer corridor from Korea’s EEZ boundary to Dokdo/Takeshima. This would allow Koreans to keep Dokdo/Takeshima and to save face, and Japan could get more EEZ in compensation.
Wow, I should have been a diplomat.
… and in my memory I confused that with sewing's mention of Okinotorishima (LINK).
Still, I think the result is a brilliant quid-pro-quo solution that will make both sides happy. The Chinese won't be happy, but then again they're not happy with anything allowing Japan to fish in South Korean waters at all.
11:26 am on April 20th, 2010 13
Whoops, the Bevers link should be THIS.
2:11 am on April 28th, 2010 14
Wow, Kushibo that's quite a little quote you dug up!!
I wonder what happened that made Mr Bevers decide to reverse his view? I think it's all that schmoozing with those friendly folks over at Shimane Prefecture might have messed him up.
Mr Bevers, if the Koreans were also going to Dokdo before 1905, it shows the islands were not no-man's land or "terra nullius" at all. It's one more hole in Japan's shabby annexation of the islands in 1905.
The current 12 -mile limit Korea imposes is fair. This allows almost an equal amount of ocean for each side. The Allies had it right when they issued SCAPIN 1033 a.k.a MacArthur Line.
10:37 pm on April 28th, 2010 15
Historical and Political Perspective " Dokto Island" is Korean Territory. You cannot say Korean Nationalist claiming Dokto Island is being loony. So Japanese Nationalist claiming Dokto Island isn't loony??? Korean Perspective or World Perspective is very very loony. Koreans should claim Daemado Island and Kando region as Korean land. When did Koreans have to overlook on Western perspective toward Korean land and territory. Americans have to thank Korean Peninsula isn't Communist or US military still stationed in South Korea. South Koreans could have build Nuclear Bomb years ago. Its that typical arrogant American attitude that helps loose support war against Terrorism.