I have to imagine that even the Japanese diplomats in Seoul must get tired of having to justify the Japanese position on Dokdo. The islets are clearly Korean territory and are not going to be given up. The Japanese government continuing their public posturing over Dokdo continues to be an unnecessary thorn in otherwise improving bilateral relations:
Taisuke Mibae, the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, enters the South Korean foreign ministry building in Seoul on April 16, 2024, after being summoned over Tokyo’s renewed territorial claim to Dokdo. (Yonhap)
South Korea “strongly” protested against Japan on Tuesday after Tokyo issued an annual diplomatic report renewing its territorial claims to the South’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.
To lodge a protest over the report, South Korea’s foreign ministry called in Taisuke Mibae, the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
The claim, strongly disputed by South Korea, which has long maintained effective control of Dokdo with the permanent stationing of security personnel there, was included in the 2024 Diplomatic Bluebook that was reported to the Cabinet by Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa.
In this year’s report, Japan continued to claim that Dokdo is Japanese territory historically and under international law, and that South Korea is carrying on with an “illegal occupation” of the area.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Here is the latest on the Dokdo front, just more of the same nonsense:
Foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk speaks during a press briefing in Seoul, Jan. 16. Yonhap
Korea “strongly protests” Japan’s repeated claims to its easternmost islets of Dokdo, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, after Japan’s top diplomat renewed the claim in a speech before the parliament.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa reiterated the claims to the islets, called Takeshima in Japan, during a speech on this year’s foreign policy objectives in a parliamentary session earlier in the day.
“The government strongly protests against the Japanese government’s repeated unfair territorial claims over Dokdo, which is clearly our own territory historically, geographically and under international law,” ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a commentary.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but the Japanese government should put a gag order on their governmental officials making Dokdo claims. South Korea is never, ever going to give up Dokdo to Japan and to keep bringing this issue up publicly is not helpful when the Japanese government is trying to strengthen relations with the ROK.
You have to be an idiot if you think the ROK Defense Minister’s prior Facebook posting in anyway supports Japan’s claim to Dokdo. However, there are parliamentary elections in April in South Korea so expect a lot of stupid stuff like this to get brought up:
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik is facing criticism for his past remarks describing the nation’s easternmost islets of Dokdo as “disputed territory,” which critics claim reflects a distorted view of history.
“It is true that there are ongoing historical disputes, and territorial disputes regarding sovereignty over Dokdo between Korea and Japan,” Shin wrote in a Facebook post dated March 23, 2023, when he was a ruling People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker.
This view contradicts the official stance of the Korean government that the nation has long maintained effective territorial control of Dokdo – which Japan claims is its own territory – and therefore, there is no territorial dispute over the islets.
Shin further criticized liberal politicians for fueling anti-Japanese sentiment based on “outdated animosity towards the long-gone Imperial Japanese militarism.”
The Facebook post is currently hidden following several media reports about it.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
Even this recent deadly earthquake in Japan cannot stop the Dokdo madness:
Seoul’s foreign ministry expressed a strong protest against Tokyo on Tuesday as Japan’s weather agency included South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo in a tsunami advisory issued after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Japan.
In a map showing tsunami alerts on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s website, the rocky islets were highlighted in yellow, along with other regions on Japan’s west coast, indicating tsunami advisories were issued for the areas.
The powerful quake struck the Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year’s Day, reportedly killing several people and causing tsunamis on South Korea’s east coast.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but this is really an issue that President Yoon needs to work with Japan to resolve to further improve bilateral relations.
On a topic that everyone in Korea can agree on, the opposition party has go out and lie in an attempt to smear President Yoon by claiming he may give up Dokdo to Japan:
The ruling and the main opposition parties denounced Japan’s territorial claims over South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on Wednesday as they marked “Dokdo Day.”
“While the reestablishment of a future-oriented relationship between South Korea and Japan has opened discussions for cooperation in fields such as security and economy, the territorial dispute issue is an independent matter,” Rep. Park Jeong-ha, chief spokesperson of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said.
Park said the government and the PPP will make legal and legislative efforts to protect the islets, and urged Japan to stop its “thoughtless words and wrongful claims” over Dokdo.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) also denounced Japan’s claims over Dokdo, but it also accused the government of President Yoon Suk Yeol of making too many concessions to Tokyo, including consenting to Tokyo’s release of radioactive water into the ocean.
“People are concerned that the government might even give up Dokdo. We urged President Yoon to become a president who safeguards the territory and national interests of South Korea,” Rep. Kwon Chil-seung, the DP’s chief spokesperson, said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
This is one issue I really wish the Japanese would work out with the Yoon administration. Ties between the two countries will never be fully normalized until this issue is resolved:
South Korea issued a strong protest on Friday against Japan’s renewed territorial claim to its easternmost islets of Dokdo in an annual defense white paper, calling for its immediate retraction.
Earlier in the day, Tokyo adopted the security document during a Cabinet session, renewing the claim to the pair of rocky outcroppings in the East Sea in the paper for the 19th consecutive year.
“The government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) strongly protests against the Japanese government’s repeated inclusion of unjust sovereignty claims over Dokdo, which is clearly an integral part of the ROK territory historically, geographically and under international law,” Lim Soo-suk, the spokesperson of the foreign ministry, said in a statement, using South Korea’s official name.
“The ROK government urges the Japanese government to immediately withdraw such claims,” he said, adding that the claims do not and will not have any impact on South Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo and that Seoul will respond “firmly” to any provocation over the islets.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but the Japanese are likely not showing much flexibility on this issue because of their ongoing territorial dispute with the Russians over the Kuril Islands which are islands they actually care about.
Here is some more Dokdo nonsense, anyone care?:
South Korea lodged a strong protest against Japan on Tuesday over Tokyo’s renewed territorial claim to Dokdo, a set of rocky islets in the East Sea, in its latest annual diplomatic book.
The claim, strongly disputed by South Korea that has long maintained effective control of Dokdo with the permanent stationing of security personnel there, was included in the 2023 Diplomatic Bluebook that was reported to the Cabinet by Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.
The Bluebook stated that South Korea has continued an “illegal occupation” of the area with no legal basis.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
You would think this professor would have better things to do than trolling Japanese websites looking for anything not labeling Dokdo correctly. What a sad life to lead:
The foreign ministry lodged a strong protest against Japan’s weather agency for labeling South Korea’s easternmost Dokdo islets as Japanese territory in maps depicting the path of Super Typhoon Hinnamnor.
The ministry said on Monday in a statement that Dokdo islets are South Korean territory historically, geographically and by international law.
The ministry stressed that it will sternly respond to Japan’s unjust infringement upon South Korea’s territorial sovereignty, adding it asked the neighboring country to correct the mistake.
Professor Seo Kyoung-duk at Sungshin Women’s University, first alerted the government and news outlets that Dokdo was labeled as Japanese territory on weather maps posted on the website of the Japan Meteorological Agency.
KBS World News
You can read more at the link.
