YONHAP NEWS

(ROUNDUP) South Korea angrily reacts to Japan's claim to Dokdo

   By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Monday angrily responded to Japan's provocative territorial claim to the easternmost South Korean islets of Dokdo, with Seoul's Foreign Ministry announcing the recall of its ambassador to Tokyo in protest.

   Japan's Education Ministry earlier on Monday released an educational document that describes the South Korean islets in the East Sea as part of Japanese territory, though Dokdo has historically been controlled by South Korea.

   The Japanese announcement immediately stirred a wave of resentment across South Korea, as President Lee Myung-bak, political leaders and civic activists called for stern counteractions to thwart Japan's attempt to lay claim to Dokdo.

   President Lee lost no time in expressing "deep disappointment" with Japan and instructing his government to "sternly and strictly" react to Japan's fresh territorial claim to Dokdo.

   "(South Korean ownership of) Dokdo is a historical fact and belongs to an area of territorial sovereignty. Its territorial status is beyond dispute," President Lee was quoted by his spokesman Lee Dong-kwan as saying.

   "I'm obliged to express deep regrets and disappointment at the Japanese government's decision to define Dokdo as part of its territory in a teacher's manual, particularly in consideration of the existing bilateral summit agreement to pursue a future-oriented partnership. The South Korean government has to deal with the Japanese claim to Dokdo sternly and strictly," said the president.

   Spokesman Lee also personally commented on the issue, saying, "Japan has periodically laid claim to Dokdo. But Dokdo is part of South Korean territory historically, geographically and by international law."
Japan's provocation came after President Lee conveyed the South Korean people's serious concern about Japan's move to claim Dokdo to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda during their talks held on the sidelines of an expanded G8 summit in Toyako, northern Japan, last week.

   Dokdo lies just 90 kilometers east of South Korea's Ulleung Island in the East Sea, while the closest Japanese territory of Oki Island in Shimane Prefecture is more than 160 kilometers away.

   Since 1954, the South Korean Coast Guard has stationed a small contingent on Dokdo as a symbol of Seoul's ownership of the rocky islets.

   Following President Lee's instruction, Seoul's Foreign Ministry announced that it will temporarily recall its ambassador to Tokyo, Kwon Chul-hyun, in protest against the Japanese claim to Dokdo.

   "Ambassador Kwon will return to Seoul soon on a temporary basis," Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said, releasing a statement denouncing Japan's description of Dokdo as its territory in its new educational guidelines. "The government can never tolerate this and strongly urges the Japanese government to immediately stop the attempt," Moon said.

   The teachers' handbook to be used from 2012 puts the Dokdo issue on par with Japan's long-running dispute with Russia over the sovereignty of four islands currently under Moscow's control.

   It calls on teachers to help deepen students' understanding of what it says are disputes over the ownership of Dokdo.

   South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan also summoned Tokyo's top envoy in Seoul, Toshinori Shigeie, to deliver a protest message.

   In an unusual show of unison, as well as anger toward Japan, leaders of South Korea's rival parties joined the Lee administration in criticizing the Japanese government's provocative position on Dokdo and traveled to the East Sea islets by ship on Monday afternoon.

   During their brief visit to Dokdo, about 40 ranking lawmakers of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) pledged non-partisan efforts to frustrate Japan's territorial bid for the islets, also known to be rich in maritime and natural resources. They also defined Japan's claim to Dokdo as an "attempt to violate South Korea's territorial sovereignty and a serious challenge to the Korean history."
The GNP vowed to set up a parliamentary committee to legislate laws to reinforce Seoul's control over the islets, while the DP said in a statement, "This is a humiliating day in which the country's pride has been stepped on by Japan."
In a related move, the South Korean government reinforced the defense of Dokdo and will take other measures to further strengthen its sovereign control of the islets in response to Japan's territorial claim, according to a top official at the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae.

   "Japan has again laid territorial claim to Dokdo in violation of a previous bilateral partnership agreement. It's deeply regrettable," the top official said in a media briefing.

   "As far as the territorial status of Dokdo is concerned, the South Korean government is determined to take strong countermeasures. We'll take various diplomatic, academic and administrative actions to consolidate South Korea's sovereign control of Dokdo," said the official.

   He said Seoul's Foreign Ministry will deliver the South Korean people's resentment toward the Japanese claim to Tokyo through various diplomatic channels, and launch fresh diplomatic efforts to publicize the history of Japan's territorial invasions of Korea in the international community.

   "The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs will conduct extensive research into the ecosystem, fishing resources and maritime environment in the sea surrounding Dokdo. The ministry will also map out a comprehensive plan to more reasonably manage facilities within the islets," said the official.

   "South Korea's education minister will send a letter of protest to his Japanese counterpart, while the South Korean police chief will call the head of the contingent stationed on Dokdo to give words of encouragement and instruct the reinforcement of maritime defense of the islets," he stressed.

   The Cheong Wa Dae official also noted that South Korean academic foundations will hold a series of forums in Seoul to call international attention to the past record of Japan's historical and territorial distortions.

   Meanwhile, South Korean citizens have also reacted angrily.

   "Practically, Korea has 100 percent territorial sovereignty over Dokdo, and that of Japan is nil. Under those circumstances, it's wrong that the Japanese government is moving to define another country's territory as its own in school textbooks," said Shin Yong-ha, a sociology professor of Hansung University and an author of several books on Dokdo's history.

   Shin noted public discontent over the Lee government in April, when the South Korean Embassy in Japan was belatedly found to have deleted Korean historical and geological statements on Dokdo from its Web site. The notes were later restored.

   Activists expressed frustrations over the Lee government's stance. Seoul seems to have no sense of urgency, they said, while about 60 percent of school textbooks in Japan already define Dokdo as Japan's territory. The Japanese Education Ministry's new guidelines are to take effect in 2012.

   "It's like someone is dying right here but you are looking to the year 2012. It's necessary to protest the educational guidelines, but the main and more urgent issue is the textbooks that a majority of Japanese students are already using," said Kim Jum-gu, leader of a Dokdo-related civic group.

   ycm@yna.co.kr
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