Korean-Americans Launch Group Against Japans Dokdo Claim

A group of Korean-Americans Monday launched an organization to promote South Korea's sovereignty over its easternmost islets of Dokdo, also claimed by Japan.

"We've launched this organization to frustrate Japan's strenuous attempts to claim Dokdo islets by collecting and providing information on Japan's attempts to claim Dokdo to the South Korean government, American citizens and Korean-Americans," Yonhap News quoted Shin Hyun-woong, president of the Coalition of Korean-Americans, as saying.

The organization was launched as the U.S. Library of Congress considers changing the name of Dokdo to Liancourt Rocks, which were named after a French whaling ship that first introduced the islets to Europe in the 19th century.

The library postponed last week a meeting on the name change amid outcries by South Koreans, who rallied in downtown Seoul against Japan's renewed claim to the islets, which lie in waters between Korea and Japan.

South Korea has recalled its ambassador to Japan in protest over the Japanese Education Ministry's release of new guidelines for school textbooks describing the islets as Japanese territory.

Japan took control of the islets in 1904 soon after it won a war with Russia in the East Sea and forced Korea to sign a treaty nullifying its diplomatic sovereignty. Korea was liberated in 1945 from Japanese colonial rule and South Korea has maintained scores of police officers on the isolated islets since 1954.

``We are establishing a think tank to collect information on the territorial dispute on Dokdo and organize an ad hoc committee tasked with dealing with issues on Dokdo," Shin was quoted as saying.

He said his organization will launch a campaign to boycott Japanese goods and file a letter with the United Nations against Japan if Japan continues to claim Dokdo. Japan is trying to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.