Korea warns it will protect Dokdo sovereignty

With public anger and tension still running high, the government yesterday demanded Japan revise its attitude and warned Korea will staunchly protect the sovereignty of the rocky Dokdo islands.

It declared the Japanese claim to the East Sea islands was tantamount to an invasion.

"(Japan`s Dokdo claim) is not simply a sovereignty problem but a denial of history and a rationalization of its invasion in the past," National Security Council head and Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told a news conference.

The government will also urge Japan`s voluntary participation in compensating Korean victims such as "comfort women" - former sex slaves to Japanese military during the 1910-45 colonial days.

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The presidential NSC discussed future diplomatic measures against the Japanese Shimane Prefecture`s designation Wednesday of Feb. 22 as "Takeshima Day" to mark its 1905 claim to the islands - a move that ignored official Korean protests and set off angry demonstrations here outside the Japanese Embassy. (Takeshima is the Japanese name for Dokdo.)

The government said that despite the conflict it would continue economic and cultural exchanges in order to protect the fundamental collaborative relations "despite Japan`s degenerative actions."

At the same time, Korea will seek joint efforts with Japan to solve history distortion, Chung said.

Another heated controversy is also brewing over a new textbook which Japan`s Education Ministry is reviewing and which containing chapters glorifying Japan`s colonization of Korea.

Both countries claim Dokdo is legally and geographically theirs. While it is a coherent concept in Korea that the nation regained sovereignty of Dokdo in 1945 upon liberation from Japan`s colonial rule, the Japanese government recently began publicizing its claim to the islands.

The South Korean government, which had repeatedly demanded that Tokyo block Shimane Prefecture`s controversial bill, vowed to take stern measures from now onwards.

Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-shik told reporters, "Japan`s local government claiming Dokdo`s sovereignty is an act that can only happen in the colonization period ... and we will seek international cooperation to adequately solve problems over the contentious history when necessary."

The Korea-Japan confrontation is likely to continue next month when the Japanese government is set to complete review of the new history textbook.

Adding to the tension was a report that a Japanese scout plane entered South Korean airspace near Dokdo on Wednesday, the day Shimane Prefecture passed its Takeshima bill.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff here confirmed that the plane, from Japan`s Self Defense Force, came about 16 kilometers from Korea`s Air Defense Identification Zone around 12:20 p.m. but retreated at 12:25 p.m. after the Korean Air Force issued five radio warnings.

It was the third unauthorized approach by Japanese planes into Korean airspace this month, officials said.

South Korean civic groups and provincial governments continued their fervent protests yesterday.

The Independence Hall of Korea President Kim Sam-woong and about 50 employees gathered in front of the Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul and rallied against Japan`s "distortion of history" and for the "protection of Dokdo islets.

The group burned mock documents of Shimane`s Takeshima bill, the new history textbook and the Korea-Japan annexation treaty.

The Seoul Young Korea Academy and other groups demonstrated in front of the Independence Gate in central Seoul and declared a boycott against products by Japanese companies that support the rightist textbook.

Over 2,000 members of 18 civic groups in North Gyeongsang Province gathered in Pohang and demanded an apology from Japan for claiming sovereignty over Dokdo.

Political parties also boosted their protests against Japan. Ruling Uri Party lawmaker Chang Young-dal argued the government must dispatch marines to Dokdo as a show of protection of Korean sovereignty.

The main opposition Grand National Party leadership decided to visit Dokdo in relays starting Saturday.

Millennium Democratic Party leader Hahn Hwa-kap contended the government should build a statue of Adm. Lee Soon-shin, the man who defeated Japanese navy vessels during the war between Korea and Japan in the 16th century.

(angiely@heraldm.com)





By Lee Joo-hee