Future of Dokdo

Long Diplomatic War Has Just Begun

It was just a matter of course that Washington reinstated Dokdo as Korean territory, ending a weeklong error.

By ordering the swift rectification, U.S. President George W. Bush saved his Korean counterpart from another political free fall, and removed a landmine on the way to his summit with President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul early next month.

Should Lee thank Bush and leave the matter alone then? Hardly. The Korean leader should ask his U.S. guest how the mistake took place and reaffirm why it should not have happened, from the aspects of history, geography and international law.

As President Bush and his aides emphasized, however, the U.S. government's basic position on the rocky islets between Korea and Japan has not changed. Washington regards it as a disputed area between its two Northeast Asian allies, and one that must be solved by Seoul and Tokyo. This shows that the stir caused by the incident is neither the end nor even the beginning of the end, but in fact the end of the beginning of a drawn-out diplomatic war.

Korean Ambassador to U.S. Lee Tae-shik was right in this regard when he said the first thing Seoul should do is restore the Korean name of Dokdo to the volcanic outcroppings instead of Liancourts Rocks named after a French whaler who was the first Westerner to encounter the islets.

It will be necessary for Korea to take measures to enhance its effective control on Dokdo, such as by conducting maritime surveys and research around it. Political and military demonstrations would be of little help, however, giving the international community the impression that Seoul is doing so to camouflage its lack of logic, while unnecessarily telling the whole world it is in dispute.

Carrying advertisements in international media outlets, as singer Kim Jang-hoon did in The New York Times recently, is a patriotic deed but leaves something to be considered in its implication. Buying up advertising space could make the readers think that the advertisers are more desperate than confident.

The same money could be used far more effectively on financing historical research and publishing the results in authoritative media vehicles as contributions instead of advertisements.

Government officials here say Japan will learn they have more to lose than gain from the territorial provocation. But Japan seems to think it has nothing to lose by claiming what is not its own. The only way Seoul can inflict losses on Tokyo is to take not only a territorial but also historical approach and show the world Japan's long track records of invading neighbors.

For that to happen, the government needs to set up a standing apparatus, instead of numerous, one-time task forces, exclusively responsible for policy-making, research and education on the Dokdo issue, and prepare for a long logical battle.

The first such arena could be the reported U.S. Congressional hearing, in which Seoul should be able to refute Tokyo's 10 reasons why Dokdo (Takeshima in Japanese) is its own territory, point by point.

Without a victory on the Dokdo issue, Korea will never be able to overcome its former colonizer.