Places In Korea: The Dokdo Islets

It is official now, I have now determined that the Dokdo Islets do in fact belong to Korea. I have been there and seen for myself that there are in fact Koreans on the island. Many of them were drunk, but never the less they were in fact Koreans.

My adventure to the Dokdo Islets began in the port town of Mukho just to the north of Donghae on the East Coast:

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I arrived in the city the night before the departure of the boat that would take me to Dokdo. My wife and I found a cheap hotel to stay at and then we began to look for a place to eat. While looking for a place to eat I ran into a couple of young guys who I thought were maybe Americans. It turned out they were Russian sailors. I always figured Russian sailors would look well like scruffy sailors, but these young guys looked like they were ready to go to a Justin Timberlake concert with there clubbing clothes and died blonde hair.  I think they mistook me for a Russian like I mistook them for Americans.  As I walked by they asked me something in Russian. I know absolutely nothing in Russian, so I responded by telling them that I am an American in English and they seemed surprised by that. The two guys knew very little English and amazingly enough we began to talk a little in Korean. These guys told me that they have been to Korea many times on their boat and had learned some Korean. It was a little surreal talking to Russian guys in Korean. We talked for like only three minutes before we parted. They smell liked alcohol and looked like they were looking for their next bar to hit up. They wanted my wife and I to go with them, but we declined because we were tired and had plenty on our agenda for the next day.

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The next morning we headed for the Mukho Harbor Station to get our tickets for the boat. To get tickets to Dokdo you need to make sure you reserve them in advance because they are hot items right now. At the station you could buy all the anti-Japanese shirts, hats, and Taeguki flags you needed to show your support for Dokdo and further enrich the marketers making a killing off the whole Dokdo craze. The shirt below says “Dokdo Bodyguard” and on the back of the shirt is says that “Daemado is ours too”:

This refers to the Japanese island of Tsushima just to the south of Pusan that many Koreans believe to be Korean territory taken from them by Japan hundreds of years ago.

Mukho ferry boat terminal.

At the station you need to be prepared to fight for every inch of space you have. The amount of pushy ajumas will force you to have to push and shove just to hold your spot in the ticket line and also the boarding line. If you are a foreigner a Customs Agent will check your passport and ask you questions about why you are going to Dokdo. I felt like telling them I was going to claim the isles for America to end the current controversy but I stuck with my story of being curious and wanting to see what the big fuss was all about with these islands. The custom agent must of felt I was up to something sinister because she then asked to see further ID. I then pulled out my military ID, which further surprised her. She asked why I wasn’t at work, so I told her I was on leave. She still must of thought something was fishy because she then asked to see my leave form. Anyway I eventually did get through Customs and boarded the boat. Be advised though that if you are Japanese you will not be allowed to board the boat. Matter of fact if you don’t have a passport they won’t let you board the boat.

The East Sea was remarkably calm that day and the boat cut through the ocean waves without any problems. I had taken some sea sickness medicine before I went on the boat but I really didn’t need it with the water so calm. The inside of the boat was like sitting in an airplane. The only difference was that there was more leg room and more drunks.

Inside seating on the ferry boat.

That is right, the boat was full of drunks. I would estimate 60% of the boat was older ajummas and 30% older ajushis while the other 10% was misc. people like my wife and I. Anyway these older ajummas and ajushis were having the time of their lives. They were dressed in their Dokdo / anti-Japanese finest and openly drank soju bottles on the boat. The boat employees didn’t care. So the boat was a raging party before we even reached Dokdo. Ajushis were singing and stumbling all over the place and grabbing other ajummas and dancing around. If you weren’t in a Dokdo mood after this the multiple TV’s played Dokdo videos over and over again proclaiming Korea’s ownership of the isles. The only time the boat employees tried to calm the party was when the partiers started stumbling into rooms and offices on the boat they weren’t supposed to go into. Overall it was a big Dokdo orgy of nationalism.

This made me wonder if all the bus tour groups of older ajushis and ajummas you see around the country at the different tourist areas are like this? Are they all just wild parties of older people making up for their lost party years of their youth due to war, famine, and hard work reconstructing the country?

Anyway after 5 hours of sailing and quick stop at Ullongdo Island, we reached Dokdo. Was it the beatiful unspoiled land I had envisioned and every Korean would lead you to believe? No it was nothing more than two unimpressive rocks:

My first view of the Dokdo Islets.

A closer view of the islets as the boat approached them.

They were both mostly brown rocks with no trees. There was occassional patches of green grass on the rocks. There was a lot of birds though. Dokto is supposed to be a bird migratory pit stop. There was lots of smaller rocks sticking up out of the crystal clear water. Overall, I wouldn’t call Dokto beautiful but is was definitely unusual. Especially for being so far out in the middle of no where.

Birds are the only thing more numerous then fishermen around the islets.

A close up look at the more unusual rock formations of the Dokdo Islets.

Even if you thought these rocks seemed pretty worthless you wouldn’t know it by the Koreans’ reactions. People broke out in the Korean national athemn and waved their Taegukis as we neared the islands. People were even crying at the sight of the islands. The ajummas stormed all over the deck of the boat and shifted their position to face the island every time the boat moved. It was like standing in a stampede of cattle as the ajummas raced across the deck to get a better view of the islets:

The people on the boat cheered the many fishing boats as we floated by. They looked back with indifference. In the distance you could even see the Korean naval destroyer that patrols Dokdo protecting it from any Japanese horde that may try to seize the islands such as research vessels filled with legions of hostile scientists.

Cable car used to transport supplies to the soldiers stationed on Dokdo.

On the islands there is actually quite a few buildings for the coast guard soldiers. There was more buildings than I expected. It must be boring being stuck on those islands all day though I imagine unless you like bird watching.

Islet garrisoned by Korean military personnel.

The importance of the islands for Korea’s fishermen was quite obvious with the number of fishing boats in the proximity of the islands. There was probably more fishermen than soldiers stationed on the island:

The real defenders of Dokdo, hordes of fishermen.

Overall, my trip to Dokto was at best interesting. If you got the time and patience to go through with this trip I say go for it. The price is not to expensive. A round trip ticket to Ulleongdo Island costs 93,200 won while the round trip ticket from Ullongdo to Dokdo cost 37,500 won for a grand total of 130,700 won for the total transportation costs. But keep in mind when traveling to Dokto that you will be more impressed by the experience than the actual sights. That is unless you are a bird watcher or you have a fetish for ajummas with big visors; Dokdo may then be your cup of tea.