The photo dated 1966 shows then home minister, Uhm Min-young, awarding guards of Dokdo, South Korea’s eastern islets. Despite South Korea effectively controlling Dokdo, Japan repeatedly claims the outcroppings as its territory. The National Archives of Korea on Nov. 11, 2015 released a series of old photos to show South Korea’s past 70 years. (Yonhap)
Members of an amateur swimming association jump into the sea at a port in the southeastern port city of Ulsan on July 20, 2015. The 88 swimmers plan to swim about 400 kilometers to reach South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on July 25, as part of festivities to mark the 70th anniversary on Aug. 15 of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. (Yonhap)
https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/614481574264881152
The Aegis destroyer “King Sejong the Great” patrols seas off South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on Jan. 1, 2015. (Yonhap)
Representative Royce is pretty much just stating reality and hopefully one day the Japanese will accept this reality:
The chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee said “Dokdo” is the right name to refer to South Korea’s easternmost islets, rejecting Japan’s long-running claims that the East Sea islets are its own.
“It’s another one of those issues where we have to understand history and what abuses occurred because it is relevant to our understanding today,” Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency earlier this week. “The proper name is Dokdo island.”
Japan’s claims to Dokdo have long been a key thorn in relations between Seoul and Tokyo, along with other issues stemming from Tokyo’s 1910-45 colonial rule, such as Japan’s enslavement of Korean women as sex slaves for its troops.
South Korea has rejected Japan’s claims over Dokdo as nonsense because the country regained independence from colonial rule and reclaimed sovereignty over its territory, including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula.
Seoul has been keeping a small police detachment on Dokdo since 1954.
It is considered unusual for the U.S. House Foreign Affairs committee chief to openly reject Japan’s claims to the islets. The U.S. government has not taken any side on the issue, leaving the matter to Seoul and Tokyo to sort out.
Royce, who has been reelected the committee’s chairman for the incoming Congress, is considered one of the “pro-Korean” U.S. lawmakers. He has led a series of legislation and resolutions on issues related to South and North Korea. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but Representative Royce has also been pushing the Japanese to accept the human rights abuses that happened in regards to the comfort women as well.
Here is another example of a Dokdo idiot:
A 55-year-old man reportedly consumed poison Friday in an apparent suicide attempt with a note urging the need to “stand up against” Japan’s claim to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, police said.
The man, only identified by his surname Choi, was rushed to a nearby hospital after he was found lying unconscious in front of the National Cemetery in southern Seoul around noon after reportedly consuming a bottle of weed killer to take his own life, according to police officials.
A suicide note was found in a notebook inside Choi’s car that was parked in front of the cemetery, which reads, “The Japanese government, which had once colonized this country, is now trying to take away the Dokdo islets from us as well. We must not succumb to their claims but must stand up against them.”
Choi had written several letters in the notebook containing similar contents that were addressed to the president of Korea and members of the National Assembly, and he was also found to have been carrying a flag with the slogan “Dokdo belongs to us (South Korea),” police said.
Family members said Choi was an ordinary citizen who has never joined any activist groups or taken part in such protests, but added that he began telling friends that he was “so angered by Japan” through text messages since last month. [Korea Times]
Do you want to be an online defender of Dokdo? Well now online groups have now made it possible for you to be a virtual defender of Dokdo by taking virtual tours and planting digital flowers on the island.
Robert from the Marmot’s Hole brings us the latest in the most pressing issue of our time, the Great Dokdo War:
Since May 21, Wikipedia has been running a poll on whether or not to continue referring to the islets as Dokdo, or whether to change it to the Liancourt Rocks. Currently, if you enter “Takeshima†or “Liancourt Rocks†into Wikipedia, it automatically connects to the “Dokdo†page.
As of Thursday, some 19 people agreed with “Dokdo,†while 22 supported a switch to “Liancourt Rocks.â€
One one each, meanwhile, supported a switch to “Takeshima†or “Takeshima/Dokdo,†while four supported a switch to “Dokdo/Takeshima.â€
The poll has been running for five days, and it’s unsure when it will end.
But if the poll were to end now, Wikipedia’s official name of “Dokdo†would switch to “Liancourt Rocks.†According to the Chosun, many Japanese—seeing how the name “Takeshima†is hardly being used internationally—are instead calling for the islets to be officially referred to as the “Liancourt Rocks†with the aim of weakening Korea’s soveriegnty over the rocks.
There has been something of a protracted struggle over Wikipedia’s official name for the Dokdo islets. The online encyclopedia originally referred to the rocks as Dokdo, but in May 2005, a netizen poll forced a switch to the Liancourt Rocks. In June 2006, another poll unanimously switched it back to Dokdo.
You would think by now, the general Korean public would be getting hit with war weariness from this protracted conflict. Now they have a new Wikipedia front of this war to fight as well. This front is being opened just weeks after the Korean public fought another protracted battle during the Rain Crisis.Â
 I can still remember the hard days when those of us in Korea had to stock up on food and supplies to survive the initial declaration of war from President Roh. Since then those of us in Korea have been through multiple cease fires, close calls, and even lived through the failure of the Daemado campaign. Times had been so desperate that even talk about recruiting North Korea to fight off the evil Japs was announced. Though the casualties on the Korean side have been heavy at times, through it all the brave defenders of Dokdo have continued thwart the massive Japanese armada descending on Dokdo. I have no doubt more brave Korean patriots will respond to this new Wikipedia Front.   Â
Where would Korea be today without such patriots like flag eater man, Chung Dong-young, finger lady, the Dokdo Riders, and most importantly that great general of all things Dokdo, bee-man.Â
A new arms deal has been announced between Raytheon and the ROK military:
The Pentagon on Friday announced the proposed sale to South Korea of advanced SM-2 missiles and related gear valued at up to $372 million.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a notice to Congress that Seoul had requested up to 210 Raytheon Co. -built SM-2 Block IIIA/B missiles and support equipment plus technical assistance from the U.S. government.
"The proposed sale will enhance South Korea’s defensive capabilities and increase interoperability with U.S. and mulit-national forces supporting coalition operations," the Pentagon said.
Does anyone find it ironic that on the same day this sale of advanced surface to air missiles is announced the Japanese Prime Minister was in Washington lobbying for the US to sell Japan the F-22:
The F-22 sale to Japan is favored by conservatives who say Japan, the closest U.S. ally in Asia, needs the warplanes to counter threats from both North Korea, where missiles could be pre-emptively attacked before launch, and China, which is building up forces opposite Taiwan, where China has deployed about 900 missiles within range of the island.
"One hundred F-22s in hands of Japan could change the Taiwan balance of power for two decades," said one official in favor of the estimated $30 billion sale. "The F-22 based in Okinawa could not only fight off [China’s People’s Liberation Army] air force but strike inside China; it is invisible to radar."
The arms race in northeast Asia continues.Â
