Korea has started distributing 350,000 copies of a booklet worldwide defending its sovereignty over its easternmost islets of Dokdo, stepping up a public relations drive against mounting Japanese territorial claim to the islets, an official said Friday.
Titled "Dokdo, Korea's Beautiful Island," the 33-page English-language booklet is part of South Korea's efforts to better inform the international community of its territorial rights to Dokdo, the foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
The ministry began providing the booklet to some 160 diplomatic missions around the world last week, the official said.
Diplomatic tension remains high between South Korea and Japan following the unprecedented Aug. 10 visit to Dokdo by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who cited Tokyo's unrepentant attitude over its brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula as a key reason for his trip.
The booklet refuted Japan's "nonsensical" claims to Dokdo, which lies closer to South Korea in the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, citing geographic recognition and relevant historical evidence.
Among other evidence, the English-language booklet says, "In the Cairo Declaration regarding Japan's unconditional surrender and Korea's independence, announced in December 1943, it is stated that 'Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed.'"
"Accordingly, Dokdo was restored as an integral part of the territory of Korea after World War II, as was confirmed by the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951," it said.
South Korea keeps a small police detachment on the islets and its military defends the waters and skies of Dokdo, effectively controlling them. Also, "there are Korean civilians residing on Dokdo," it said.
As South Korea has been exercising its "irrefutable territorial sovereignty over Dokdo ever since," the booklet says, "No territorial dispute exists regarding Dokdo, and Dokdo is not a matter to be dealt with through diplomatic negotiations or judicial settlement."
South Korea views Tokyo's claims to Dokdo as a sign Japan has not fully repented for its imperialist past and a denial of Korea's independence because the country reclaimed sovereignty over all of its territory, including Dokdo, after the colonial rule ended.(Yonhap)