'Dokdo claims weaken Japan's standing'

This is the 15th and final in a series of articles contributed by international and Korean experts shedding light on Japan

’s claim to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo and other affairs that illustrate Japan’s lack of remorse over misdeeds it has committed. ― ED

By Chung Mong-joon

Japan's claims over the Dokdo islands symbolize all that is

wrong in Korea-Japan relations along with the role that Japan has played in the region.

That Japan continues to make territorial claims based on its imperialist past demonstrates the callous attitude its government has toward its former victims as well as a historical forgetfulness that continues to astonish its neighbors.

That Japan seeks to play a more important role in ensuring peace and security in the region while making claims that are major sources of tension and distrust seems naive, at best.

Japan first laid claim to the Dokdo islands during the Russo-Japanese War.

It incorporated them into the Shimane Prefecture in June 1905, claiming that the territory was unclaimed. Three months later, in September, the war ended with Japan as the victor. Two months later, in November, Japan imposed a protectorate treaty on Korea, disbanding its military and police while taking away its right to conduct diplomacy.

Full annexation came five years later, in 1910.

In 1998, while Korea was in the grip of the Asian Financial Crisis, Japan unilaterally declared the Korea-Japan Fishery Agreement of 1965 to be null and void.

As Korea was desperately seeking financial assistance from abroad to prevent the country from going bankrupt, Japan used the occasion to force Korea to re-negotiate a sensitive treaty with possible territorial implications.

The New Korea-Japan Fishery agreement that went into effect in 1999, included the Dokdo islands as part of a "neutral fishing zone."

Japan's claims over Dokdo were thus made during periods of national crises in Korea, when it was in such a weakened position that it had no means of resisting Japan's encroachment on its territorial sovereignty.

Japan seems to conduct its foreign policy in an opportunistic manner rather than in the spirit of amity and cooperation.

As far as Koreans are concerned, history has repeatedly shown that Japan is a less than trustworthy neighbor.

That Japan continues to claim Dokdo as its territory to this day merely confirms this view.

That Japan continues to behave thus is attributable to two factors: US strategy in the region and the relative weakness of its neighbors in the post-World War II era.

As fate would have it, Korea was divided in half as part of the settlement of World War II in East Asia, rather than Japan which started the war.

Furthermore, the exigencies of the Cold War forced the United States to quickly turn Japan into a bastion of the anti-Communist bloc in the region, sweeping under the carpet issues of responsibility for crimes committed during the war.

Japan became the linchpin of U.S. strategy in Asia. Even South Korea, with fresh memories of a brutal colonial rule, acquiesced for strategic and economic reasons and normalized relations with Japan in 1965.

The economic rise of Japan also contributed to its historical amnesia. As the only country to become a major economic power in Asia until the recent rise of China, Japan exercised unparalleled influence in the region.

All of its former victims in the region, in desperate need of Japanese economic assistance and investment, actively suppressed historical grievances against Japan.

The more powerful Japan became economically, the easier it became to forget history.

Today, Japan is no longer the dominant economic power in Asia. With the rise of China, Japan's economic clout in the region is rapidly declining.

South Korea also feels increasingly confident as its place and role in the region and the world continues to grow. It no longer feels that it has to acquiesce to Japanese behaviors regarding historical grievances and territorial issues that it was forced to accept in the past.

Tensions continue to rise. What is truly unfortunate is that such disputes are taking place even as the region faces a far greater threat to peace and security, North Korea.

North Korea is now a self-proclaimed nuclear power. It continues to develop ballistic missile technology. It is going through a power transition with an uncertain outcome. Now is the time for the countries in the region, especially South Korea and Japan, to work in tandem to deal with the North Korean crisis.

The rise of China, the relative decline of the U.S. and Japan also calls for closer cooperation between South Korea and Japan.

To sustain peace and ensure continued prosperity across the region, the need for South Korea and Japan to consult and coordinate is greater than at any period in the past.

Now is not the time for Japan to re-open old wounds, to remind its neighbors of a painful past and its callous attitude toward it.

Should it continue to do so, peace and stability of the region will be undermined. Japan's influence in the region will suffer a setback from which it may never recover.

That will be unfortunate for everyone in the region, most of all, Japan.

Chung Mong-joon is a seven-term lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party and honorary vice president of FIFA. He is also the controlling shareholder of Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world

’s largest shipbuilder.