Japan's provocations over Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo are becoming more diverse and egregious, whereas our responses appear lethargic and unreliable.
On Wednesday, Seoul lodged a formal protest with Tokyo for posting a video on YouTube claiming sovereignty over the rocky islets. Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young urged Japan to immediately delete the 87-second video, saying, ''Such behavior is unhistorical and anachronistic, and only hampers progress in Korea-Japan relations.''
The video states that Japan established sovereignty over the islets, called Takeshima in Japanese, in the 17th century and reconfirmed it in 1905. According to the video clip, the U.S. recognized Dokdo as Japan's territory in 1951 under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, but Korea illegally took control of them in 1952, when then President Syngman Rhee unilaterally drew the so-called "Syngman Rhee Line." It also says Seoul repeatedly rejected Tokyo's proposal to settle the issue at the International Court of Justice.
Needless to say, such claims over Dokdo are nonsensical both historically and geographically. What's noteworthy is that the neighboring country bluntly revealed its intentions to step up a public relations war to make its claims over the outcroppings in the East Sea be heard more loudly in the international community.
True, Japan's Dokdo claim is nothing new. The island state began to intensify its territorial claim in the middle of the 2000s, when its Defense White Paper first mentioned it. Bilateral tensions over the islets have escalated remarkably since Japan's conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in late 2012.
In February this year, Japan's central government sent delegates ― for the first time ― to an annual event marking the so-called Takeshima Day hosted by Shimane Prefecture. In August, Japan unveiled the results of a government survey on how Japanese think about Dokdo ― also the first government-sponsored poll.
But Japan's recurring provocations over Dokdo will merely result in its international isolation deepening. It's no secret that Japan's territorial claims rarely win sympathy in the international community. China, for its part, urged Japan on Wednesday to stop all provocations over the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
Our response leaves much to be desired, though. It simply defies our understanding that the Foreign Ministry told its missions abroad to refrain from pushing too much to exclusively use the Korean name of Dokdo to describe the islets. It's also regrettable that municipal governments' measures to strengthen the effective control of Dokdo are adrift because of budget constraints and administrative red tape.
Our foreign ministry should act resolutely against Japan's provocations while countering its PR offensives wisely.
On Wednesday, Seoul lodged a formal protest with Tokyo for posting a video on YouTube claiming sovereignty over the rocky islets. Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young urged Japan to immediately delete the 87-second video, saying, ''Such behavior is unhistorical and anachronistic, and only hampers progress in Korea-Japan relations.''
The video states that Japan established sovereignty over the islets, called Takeshima in Japanese, in the 17th century and reconfirmed it in 1905. According to the video clip, the U.S. recognized Dokdo as Japan's territory in 1951 under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, but Korea illegally took control of them in 1952, when then President Syngman Rhee unilaterally drew the so-called "Syngman Rhee Line." It also says Seoul repeatedly rejected Tokyo's proposal to settle the issue at the International Court of Justice.
Needless to say, such claims over Dokdo are nonsensical both historically and geographically. What's noteworthy is that the neighboring country bluntly revealed its intentions to step up a public relations war to make its claims over the outcroppings in the East Sea be heard more loudly in the international community.
True, Japan's Dokdo claim is nothing new. The island state began to intensify its territorial claim in the middle of the 2000s, when its Defense White Paper first mentioned it. Bilateral tensions over the islets have escalated remarkably since Japan's conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in late 2012.
In February this year, Japan's central government sent delegates ― for the first time ― to an annual event marking the so-called Takeshima Day hosted by Shimane Prefecture. In August, Japan unveiled the results of a government survey on how Japanese think about Dokdo ― also the first government-sponsored poll.
But Japan's recurring provocations over Dokdo will merely result in its international isolation deepening. It's no secret that Japan's territorial claims rarely win sympathy in the international community. China, for its part, urged Japan on Wednesday to stop all provocations over the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
Our response leaves much to be desired, though. It simply defies our understanding that the Foreign Ministry told its missions abroad to refrain from pushing too much to exclusively use the Korean name of Dokdo to describe the islets. It's also regrettable that municipal governments' measures to strengthen the effective control of Dokdo are adrift because of budget constraints and administrative red tape.
Our foreign ministry should act resolutely against Japan's provocations while countering its PR offensives wisely.
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