Japanese foreign minister repeats claims over Dokdo
By Kim Hyo-jin
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida claimed Tuesday that South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo belong to Japan, causing a strong backlash from Seoul.
“Takeshima is our inherent territory from the historic aspect and in accordance with the international law,” Kishida said during a press briefing, referring to Dokdo by its Japanese name.
In response, Seoul’s foreign ministry urged that “Japan should stop its useless claims over Dokdo immediately.”
The remarks may add fuel to the rising tension over comfort woman statues symbolizing Japan’s wartime sex slavery.
The Gyeonggi Province council launched a fundraising campaign, Monday, in a bid to erect a comfort woman statue on Dokdo.
The council said it plans to set up the statue on Dec. 14 to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the first comfort women statue erected in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
In a press briefing, Kishida said such a move is “unacceptable” as the territory belongs to Japan.
The move has fueled uneasiness among Japanese media outlets and politicians.
Kyodo News reported Tuesday, “Gyeonggi provincial members’ activity appears to have further upset the relations between Japan and Korea though it is unclear if it would actually lead to the erection of the statue.”
The right-wing Sankei Shimbun echoed the same view, noting, “Setting up an additional girl statue, not long after setting up one in Seoul and one in Busan, is likely to develop as a new diplomatic issue between the two countries.”
Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party Secretary-General Yoshihiko Noda also raised his voice against Korea, saying “Korea has to reflect more on what it has done.”
Seoul and Tokyo have been at odds over the erecting of a new statue outside Japan’s Consulate General office in the port city of Busan.
The Abe administration recalled its ambassador to Seoul Yasumasa Nagamine last week, in protest of the statue in Busan. Yasuhiro Morimoto, the consul general in Busan, was also recalled.
Amid rising expectations that their homecoming may be extended with no signs of resolution, Kishida said “Nothing has been decided yet.”
Japan has long claimed its sovereignty over Dokdo while South Korea argues such claims are tantamount to its denial of Korea’s independence from Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of Korea considering Seoul reclaimed sovereignty over all of its territory, including Dokdo, upon its independence.