 Rep. Chung Mong-joon, a member of the Grand National Party’s decision-making Supreme Council |
Staff Reporter
Seoul will launch a brand marketing campaign requesting U.S. government institutions to use the name Dokdo rather than Liancourt Rocks as part of a long-term strategy to strengthen its sovereignty over the islets, a Grand National Party (GNP) lawmaker said Thursday.
``In a separate move, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade will create a task force to deal with the territorial issue by inviting several experts outside the government,'' Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun told reporters.
At the GNP-foreign ministry meeting, Yoon said ruling party leaders asked the ministry to investigate if there are similar cases in which Tokyo claims sovereignty over territories that do not belong to it.
The rough outline of the future strategy was unveiled after the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) reinstated Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo islets early Thursday, following President George W. Bush's order that recognition of ownership of the islets be restored on the BGN's database.
Seoul welcomed the reversal, saying the decision reinforces strong Seoul-Washington relations.
Tokyo, meanwhile, downplayed the BGN's reversal. Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura was quoted as saying by the Associated Press that ``there is no need for us to overreact to a decision made by just one organization in the United States.''
No lawmakers brought up the sackings of Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and his team at the meeting.
The meeting was initially set up two days ago to question the top diplomat and his team's poor handling of the territorial issue, but the topic suddenly changed into forging a sustainable strategy to defend Dokdo, mainly due to the overnight change by the BGN.
In fact, the mood of letting the ministry team stay was anticipated a day earlier when President Lee returned to Cheong Wa Dae Wednesday after having a five-day summer vacation.
Asked if he had any plan to reshuffle Cabinet ministers, Lee said he would not allow his rivals the joy of pressuring those who were responsible for the blunders to resign.
Following Lee's unwillingness to replace his team, the drive for a government reshuffle targeting the foreign policy and security lineup including Minister Yu has faded.
Rep. Chung Mong-joon proposed the government scrap the new Korea-Japan fisheries agreement, which was signed in 1998, as part of a strategy to strengthen the ownership of Dokdo. Chung claimed that Seoul sent the wrong message to Tokyo with the pact.
He said it is regretful to know that the government negotiators maintained during the negotiations that Ulleung-do, not Dokdo, was the starting point of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), where a government has special rights over the use of marine resources.
``Tokyo claimed that the islets were the middle zone, not the starting point of the EEZ at the time. I guess the agreement caused decision makers in Japan to hold the misconception that they had secured a bridgehead for their future claim over Dokdo through the fisheries pact,'' he said.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
