By Kim Tae-gyu
A team of Korean scientists have underpinned the sovereignty of Dokdo by naming microscopic organisms after the country’s easternmost islets, which Japan also claims as its territory.
The team headed by Prof. Kim Ji-hyun of Yonsei University said Monday that they mapped out genetic codes of 10 new microbes found in Dokdo’s soil and neighboring waters.
The feats are highlighted on the occasion of Dokdo Day, which celebrates King Gojong’s official announcement on Oct. 25, 1900 about the jurisdiction over the island in the East Sea, also called the Sea of Japan.
“We sequenced genetic codes of the 10 microbes to register in the database of the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the United States,” Prof. Kim said.
“All of them are named after Dokdo or the East Sea. Many other researchers who love Dokdo have contributed much to this project. Some of the works are covered by academic papers.”
Kim said that the studies would continue.
“In the beginning, we did not put priority on commercial purposes but we discovered some genes and enzymes have commercial viability while collating our research,” Kim said.
“Our team gathered soil and water samples from Dokdo this August to unearth new microorganisms such as bacteria.”
Included in the 10 microbes are dokdonia donghaensis and maribacter dokdonensis.
Located about 90 kilometers east of Korea’s Ulleung Island and 160 kilometers northwest of Japan’s Oki Island, Dokdo is a set of volcanic outcrops of which ownership has been disputed between Seoul and Tokyo over the past several decades.
Dokdo is under the strict control of Korea with its maritime police officers stationed there. Korean civilians also live on the island, but Japan has never stopped claiming sovereignty of Dokdo, which has abundant fishing resources and minerals.
In particular, the Shinzo Abe administration beefed up the initiative with a set of controversial maneuvers to fray the already-strained relationship between the two neighbors.
Alongside the wartime sex slavery issue, Dokdo has been a bone of contention between the two countries of late. As a result, President Park Geun-hye refused to meet her Japanese counterpart of Prime Minister Abe for almost three years after she was inaugurated in Feb. 2013.