Category: Dokdo Madness

I wonder if the fact that Japan is fielding spy planes will be twisted to mean that this is another provactive measure by the Japanese military to invade Dokdo? Rest easy Dokdo watchers, the spy planes are to be used to spy on North Korean ballistic missiles instead:

Japan will soon decide which long-endurance unmanned spy plane it plans to deploy in fiscal 2007, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga said Wednesday in London.
Nukaga said he expects the spy drones to allow his agency to gather ballistic missile launch information quickly. The move will bolster Japan’s reconnaissance capabilities to monitor North Korea and other potential threats.

Japan has plans to domestically develop spy planes but the agency will first import them from the United States, Japan’s closest ally, with which it has been engaged in a joint missile defense project since North Korea launched a missile that flew over Japan into the Pacific in 1998.

It will be interesting to see how the Chinese are going to respond to this development.

I wonder if the fact the US Marines are training Japanese soldiers in amphibious warfare tactics will be twisted to mean that the US is training the Japanese military to attack Dokto?:

Japanese soldiers left for the United States on Tuesday to conduct training with the US Marines simulating the recapture of an island from enemies, an official said. It will be the first joint war game between the allies premised on an invasion of an isolated island off Japan, an official of Japan’s Defense Agency said on customary condition of anonymity.

About 125 troops from Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in California will hold month long exercises at Camp Pendleton, Calif., according to the defense official. In the scenario, soldiers will infiltrate a captured island by boat and retake it after exchanging fire with the enemy, the official said, though no live ammunition will be used during the exercise.

The Japanese media is reporting that the exercise is in preparation of a Chinese attack on the remote southern Japanese islands:

Local media reports have said the joint exercise is aimed at showing a military “presence” in small southwestern Japanese islands off Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu in view of China’s military expansion in recent years. The official said he could not comment on those reports.

Rest easy Koreans, I don’t think there is an invasion fleet in the world that can defeat the Army of drunk ajummas that visit that island.

Hat Tip: Coming Anarchy

Occidentalism is reporting that Korean tourists spray painted Dokto graffiti on a cultural landmark the John Lennon Wall in Prague. Apparently some Czech citizens are upset about the graffiti and spray painted over the Korean flag the Czech word for cowards.

I think it is kind of childish to spray paint graffiti like this in a prominent location in a foreign country because the Dokto issue is a regional political issue between Korea and Japan that has nothing to do with the Czech Republic. It would similarly be childish of me if I went to Cheongyecheon Stream in Seoul and painted one of the walls there with graffiti against illegal Mexican immigration into America. This issue has absolutely nothing to do with Korea because it is a regional political issue between the US and Mexico. It is the same thing with the Dokto controversy. It is one thing to fill a subway station in Korea with anti-Japanese pictures drawn by school children; but quite another to do something similar to this in a foreign country.

I tend to agree with Curzon’s comment on the whole Dokto controversy:

Korea occupied the rocks; Japan disputes their ownership. Russia occupies southern Sakhalin and the Kurils; Japan disputes their ownership. Somehow, the stoic and steely nature of the Russian personality to resist worldwide lobbying, cutting off pinkies, and making themselves look absurd in the eyes of the world. How ever do they contain themselves?

I feel that Korea does have the strongest case for ownership of Dokto; plus they physically occupy the islets. Short of war nothing is going to move Korea off those two rocks and Japan is not going to start a war over Dokto and both governments know this. Yet Dokto remains a great source for Korean governmental leaders in political trouble at home, to stoke Korean nationalism in order to skew their own short comings. The same phenomenon but on a much smaller scale is why the Japanese government doesn’t let the Takeshima issue fade either because politicians in power want to appease the Japanese fishing industry. In the end it is a wash and both governments look as stupid as this graffiti in Prague.

The Korean Eco-Nazis are trying to evict two dogs from the disputed Dokto Islets:

But now, the “guardian dogs’’ of the islets _ Komi and Mongi _ are likely to be expelled as the Cultural Heritage Administration has officially requested that the island police remove the animal.

The administration has said that the five-year-old dogs are damaging the eco system of Dokdo by killing fork-tailed petrels and black-tailed gulls.

The administration discovered that the dogs have also eaten the birds’ eggs. The black-tailed gulls are designated by the government as a precious natural treasure.

I find this so stupid because there is no way those two dogs can eat all the birds on Dokto. I have been to Dokto myself and I can confirm that is going to take a heck of a lot more than two dogs to eat all the birds on those two rocks. The amount of birds that nest on Dokto was one of the first things I noticed about the place. There is definitely an impressive amount of birds that live there.

I got to give the Coast Guard credit they are not giving up the two dogs without a fight:

Despite the decision by the cultural institution, police do not have an immediate plan for the dogs’ removal.

Instead, they will ask members of the coast guard to set up stricter guidelines concerning the animal.

“They are the guardian dogs of the coast guard and part of their family. They were born on the island and were raised there, too. We will keep the dogs with us,’’ said an official at the police agency, on condition of anonymity.

“The dogs have been our friends and they are loved by tourists as well,’’ Seo Jung-pyo, a head of the coast guards, said on the phone.

Give these coast guard kids a break out there. Dokto has got to be a horribly boring assignment at least let these guys keep their two dogs.

Plus I always got to roll my eyes when I hear Korean environmentalists talk about protecting the environment here in Korea. Something that just constantly frustrates me during my travels, is all the litter left by picnickers and hikers along the Korean streams and mountain trails. I still have never read anything from Korean environmentalists condemning this, yet they go after these two dogs.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Check out the GI Korea Dokto Photo Album for some great pictures from these infamous islets.

I just knew some how Dokto would come up during Liberation Day. I just didn’t expect it to be celebrated in this way:

Korean telecommunications companies’ plan to set up a base station for mobile phones on Dokdo island this month to mark the 60th anniversary of liberation from Japanese rule has been delayed, SK Telecom and KTF said yesterday.

Celebrating Liberation Day by putting up a cell phone tower on Dokto. Only in Korea.

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:

View Larger Map

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.

View Larger Map

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.

According to the Korea Times visitors to the Dokto Islands have been damaging the ecosystem there.

“After making the Dokdo islets more accessible, some visitors have damaged the environment by violating a few rules. It is deplorable,’’ said Yoo Hong-joon, head of the administration, in a statement released to the media.

The number of visitors has increased since the government lifted restrictions on access to the islands in March in a move to reaffirm sovereignty over the tiny islets. The change in policy came after Japan’s claim to them.

“We must make an effort to protect the Dokdo islets,’’ Yoo said.

He asked visitors not to use musical instruments or microphones, which can affect the birds on the island. They are also asked not to stray from the designated routes or take soil and stones from of the rocky islands.

Why don’t they use these same rules at all the wilderness parks in the country? It’s deplorable the amount of trash left by hikers and picnickers and the amount of noise pollution at the different parks in Korea. Did anyone expect the masses to behave any diffently on Dokto?

Living in Korea you are surrounded by the anti-Japanese media. However, the Japundit provides an insightful view of the whole “Great Dokto Crisis” from the Japanese point of view we rarely see here. Definitely a must read:

Give the Korea Times credit, however. They did inject some reality into their account, but you have to read to the end of the article to find it: “Only a fraction of schools – less than 0.1 percent – adopted the first edition of the Fusosha textbook in 2001, far less than the publisher’s target of 10 percent.”

After all the talk about the brainwashed Japanese youth and their failure to teach history, we finally find out that only 0.1% of the schools actually used the textbook they’re risking a diplomatic war about. Lest their readers be overly dismayed by the facts, the Times tried to buck them up: “But the publisher may be able to exploit the ongoing controversy to increase sales, analysts said.”

They should have kept going and talked about militarism while they were about it. For example: Reporting the worldwide ranking for military personnel by country.

China: 2,930,000
United States: 1,547,300
India: 1,457,800
North Korea: 1,120,000
South Korea: 600,000
Japan, where “militarism is poised to resurface” is not even in the top 15, with military forces that total 239,500. In every category surveyed, either China or one of the Koreas is in the top five. The only category in which Japan is in the top five is total military expenditures, coming in 5th. South Korea is 10th.

China has nuclear weapons. They provoked a military incident with the United States in 2001. They constantly threaten to use military force to incorporate Taiwan. South Korea has universal male conscription. They scrambled fighter aircraft to drive away reporters in a business jet taking pictures of the Takeshima/Dokto islets. North Korea is a de facto military dictatorship with nuclear weapons and a belligerent attitude. The average news broadcast in North Korea is delivered in a martial tone that sounds like George Orwell translated into Hangul.

But one of Japan’s smaller prefectures passes a bill calling for a memorial “Takeshima Day”, and 0.1% of Japan’s schools use a rightwing textbook, and militarism is “poised to resurface in Japan”?

No wonder the “Japanese Remain Silent on Roh Statement”. Laughing would be an inappropriate diplomatic response.

The Japundit definitely brings out some good points that Korea is probably over reacting to the whole “Great Dokto Crisis.” President Roh is just trying to build up his popularity through Korean nationalism by confronting Japan. Koreans have an inferiority complex when it comes to the Japanese so it seems to make people feel good now that Korea is strong enough to stand up to Japan even if it has gone overboard now.

However, Japan does have some responsibility for creating these tensions by starting the whole Dokto, biased text books, no-apology for WWII, etc. etc. issues to begin with. Politicians in Japan are using some of these issues for their own political reasons (ie-fishing rights at Dokto) just like President Roh is taking advantage of it for his own political reasons. I don’t see how any of this will do any of them any good in the long run but I guess we will see.

The fears of Japanese militarism are definitely blown out of proportion. Japan may have a much smaller army than Korea but they do have a technologically advanced military that makes up for their lack of numbers especially their naval forces. However, no advanced military is much good without large numbers of boots on the ground to hold territory. 239,500 soldiers in the Japanese military isn’t nearly enough to start a war in Asia and begin occupying countries like Korea and China. Even if the Japanese attacked Korea, Korea is more than capable of defending themselves and defeating any Japanese attack.

The fact that the Japanese are becoming more and more able to rapidly deploy their forces is of concern to a country like China who could face a joint US-Japan counter attack if China uses military force on Taiwan. This creates the need for China to curtail the deployability of the SDF in Japan. That is why China likes to bring up past Japanese atrocities and that is also why China protests any UN peacekeeping mission or the deployment to Iraq of Japanese soldiers.

So here in Korea I doubt we need to fear a Pearl Harbor style of attack on Pusan amy time soon. Great reality check from the Japundit.

It appears my hunch that the whole Dokto crisis is about fishing rights may in fact be correct. Andy over at the Flying Yangban has things covered from Korea while the Japundit has things covered from Japan. The Marmot has also put together some quality information on this topic.

A further development was that the city of Masan just declared Daemado Day. From the Marmot:

The city council of the port town of Masan, South Gyeongsang Province just passed ? by a vote of 29 to 1 ? an ordinace declaring June. 19 ?Daema Island Day.? June 19, as everyone knows, is the day in 1419(1st year of the reign of King Sejong) when Gen. Lee Jong-mu left Masan Harbor to launch his expedition to conquer Daema Island, known to those cretins on the other side of the East Sea as Tsushima. I don?t have time at the moment to translate the ordinance or go into the history, but suffice it to say it appears the crafty city councilmen borrowed the language of Shimane Prefecture?s ?Takeshima Day? ordinance.

Pretty good move by the city of Masan. I wonder what is going to happen next? Maybe Mongolia will claim Cheju-do since they once owned Cheju during the height of the Mongol Empire. However, that is about as likely to happen as Korea ever giving up Dokto.

According to the Asahi Shimbun Japan wants Korea’s Dokto island not because of nationalistic feelings but because of fishing rights.

A century ago, Shimane Prefecture claimed Takeshima island as part of its territory. The remote island is located in the Sea of Japan. On Thursday, a Shimane prefectural assembly committee approved a bill to designate Feb. 22 as “Takeshima Day.”

It aims to formally establish territoriality over the island, which is under de facto South Korean rule. The Shimane assembly’s plenary session is expected to adopt the bill next week.

It is not hard to see why Shimane wants this bill passed. An agreement between Japan and South Korea recognizes a wide area of the Sea of Japan as “provisional waters” under joint administration, where fishermen of both countries are allowed to operate unencumbered by the dispute over sovereignty. This area does not include the 12- nautical-mile zone around the island, which South Korea claims as part of its territorial waters.

Fishing communities in Shimane and other prefectures along the Sea of Japan coastline have been worried for some time that they are not getting a fair deal. They say South Korean ships are overfishing in the area.

It was these anxieties that fueled Shimane’s move to declare Takeshima Day on the centennial of its land-grab. In short, the bill reflects the concerns of local communities.

From what I have been told is that the waters around Dokdo are filled with fish. Apparently the Shimane prefecture just keeps bringing up the Tokto issue in an effort to put pressure on the South Korean government to open up the waters around the island to Japanese commercial fishing. I don’t see any chance of this happening though. The Koreans will never give up even the slightest bit of sovereignty over Tokto; even territorial waters.