By Nah Hong-ju
There can never be any doubt that Dokdo has been Korean territory since A.D. 512 in the Silla Kingdom historically, geographically, legally and effectively. Reading the column “Dokdo: distraction and diversion” by Mr. Donald Kirk, a Korea Times columnist, last week I, as an aged Korean, can hardly overlook it without a response.
Recently, the bilateral relationship between the Republic of Korea and Japan has turned sour since President Lee Myung-bak's visit to the Dokdo islets on Aug. 10.
The Japanese government, asserting that Dokdo belongs to Japan without any reasonable ground at least as most Koreans see it, has led it to describe Dokdo as a Japanese territory named Takeshima in its school textbooks for elementary, middle and high school students since March 30, 2010.
The Shimane Prefecture of Japan has observes "Takeshima Day" on Feb. 22, celebrating Japan’s illegal and surreptitious annexation of Dokdo amid the Russo-Japanese war on the same day of 1905.
On April 11, the prefecture, together with Japanese rightists, held a rally in Tokyo, calling for the “early return” of Dokdo to their country. More than 800 people gathered at the rally, including such ranking officials as a key aide to Japan’s prime minister, the vice foreign minister, 66 members of the Japanese parliament (49 lawmakers and 17 assistants on behalf of their bosses) and four representatives from each conservative political party.
It was four days after the Japanese government issued a diplomatic Blue Book, in which Tokyo asserted that Dokdo belongs to Japan, and the content was also seen in Japan’s defense White Book issued on July 31.
All this means young Japanese students have been educated with distorted information on Dokdo for years. How can we expect these children to think rationally and objectively about the legal and historic truth of Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo when they grow up?
This kind of misinformation will pose insurmountable obstacles to the peaceful and co-prosperous relationship between the two neighboring countries in the future. The Japanese government is required to take immediate action to correct the aforesaid distortion of Dokdo in its textbooks and in its diplomatic and defense papers for the sake of a future-oriented relationship.
For many Japanese people’s information, let me make a brief explanation about the evidence for Korean sovereignty over Dokdo by international law. The Allied Powers, immediately after the end of World War II, issued Supreme Command for Allied Powers Instruction Note (SCAPIN) 677 on Jan. 29, 1946, by which “Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), etc. and Korea" were made of a complete, governmental and administrative separation from Japan according to the Potsdam Declaration.
The Japanese government at the time complied with the provision of the SCAPIN concerning “Dokdo, etc. and Korea.” Japan’s Prime Ministerial Ordinance No. 24 (June 6, 1951) and Ministry of Finance Public Notice No. 654 (Aug. 15, 1945) adopted the said provision of SCAPIN 677, providing “Dokdo, etc. and Korea” as a foreign land. Japan also acquiesced that Dokdo was the Korean territory by the Treaty on the Basic Relations between Republic of Korea and Japan (June 22, 1965).
To sum up, Dokdo belongs to Korea and Japan’s attempt to take it away again is absolutely illegal. Dokdo today is a serious territorial and sovereignty issue.
I hope Mr. Kirk understands why Koreans feel mortified beyond expression to read such wordings “the ruckus over Dokdo/Takeshima gets so much play in Korea and Japan...” and “this quarrel is meaningless and useless...,” pulling down Korea’s position as if it were the on the same level of Japanese assertion, as shown in his column.
The writer is chairman of the Dokdo Protection Headquarters affiliated with Heung Sah Dahn. His email address is nahmut@hanmail.net.