Koreans have special feelings for Dokdo

A “Visit Korea” ad in Times Square in New York in this 2012 file photo has in the background the Dokdo with yachts sailing nearby. Professor Seo Kyoung-duk of Sungshin Women’s University and singer Kim Jang-hoon worked to put the ad in downtown Manhattan. / Courtesy of Seo Kyoung-duk

This is the first of a five-part series on

exploring “The Meaning of Dokdo for

Koreans” that The Korea Times is carrying

out in collaboration with the Northeast

Asian History Foundation (NAHF). — ED.

By Kim Ji-soo

Singer Kim Jang-hoon held an art show in Shanghai with pictures and art work featuring the eastern Korean islets of Dokdo on April 18. At the Korean Cultural Center in Shanghai, the show had photographs of the Dokdo, 3D sculptures, and a photo exhibition on “comfort women.”

Kim is a well-known advocate for Dokdo.

He together with Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor of general education at Sungshin Women’s University and a Korean PRexpert, in 2008 paid for an ad on Dokdo in the New York Times. Since then, they have held numerous activities and events such as swimming relays, posting Dokdo posters in major world cities and an ad on a New York’s Times Square billboard to name just a few.

“These cultural, tourism-approach activities are preferable in our efforts to reaffirm Korea’s rule of the Dokdo,” said Seo Kyoung-duk.

“For Koreans, the eastern most Dokdo are symbolic. The Japanese are insisting on their ownership of Dokdo ... But our efforts to shed light on Korea’s effective sovereignty is an effort to have Japan address its past aggressions,” he said.

Koreans long know that Dokdo was Korean territory, dating back 1,500 years ago.

“History shows that Dokdo is Korean territory through the Silla, Goryeo and Joseon kingdoms,” said Lee Sang-bae of military science at Sangmyeong University.

But Japan illegally annexed the islands in 1905 in its preparation for war with Russia and the interpretation of the 1951 San Francisco Treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers that made no specific mention of Dokdo may be behind the intensified claims.

Singer Kim Jang-hoon, center in blue and black shirt, and students of Korea National Sports University in front of Dokdo in this Aug. 15, 2012 file photo, after swimming in relay the 220 kilometers there from Jukbyeon. The relay swim took 47 hours. / Korea Times file

Just as recently as early April, Korea lodged a protest against Japan for laying a fresh claim to Dokdo in Japan’s Diplomatic Bluebook for 2014. Japan also vowed to resolve the territory issue through international law. Seoul warned that such a claim will severely damage bilateral ties as well as peace and security in Northeast Asia.

“I believe Japan’s imperialistic tendencies will continue to persist, so we need a legal basis and a logical coherent response,” said Lee, adding that Koreans’ continued promotional activities comprise part of those responses.

It’s not only high-profile figures such as Kim and Seo or groups and associations working on the Dokdo issue.

Lay Koreans, both young and old have taken more actively to embracing Dokdo and promoting Korean sovereignty.

Four Korean college students — Kwon Tae-won, Yoon Joon-myung, Park Hyeon and Park Seung-bae — are the “Third Dokdo Racers.” Having started out on March 1 at Incheon International Airport, the four will travel in a camping car through 19 countries in North and South America, Europe and Asia. The camping car will feature a design that reads “Dokdo is Our Land.” The four are ambitiously expecting to be in Brazil at the time of the World Cup. They have also applied also for permission to visit Mt. Baekdu and Pyongyang in August.

A 58-year-old Korean-American whose Korean name was Choi Ik-cheol recently made news in the Korean community in Los Angeles when he adopted a new name “Dok Do” after gaining U.S. citizenship.

“In my judgment these activities are strategically important in underscoring and promoting Korean claims in international law. They are indicative of citizen support for a government position and hence useful in highlighting Korea’s claims of jurisdiction, that it has the competence to prescribe and apply authority over Dokdo,” said Charles H. Norchi, a professor of law at the University of Maine Law School. He is also the director of the university’s Center for Oceans Law.

“While I imagine that these kinds of activities are known within Korea, most foreigners probably are not aware of such activities, nor even aware of the controversy concerning Dokdo/Takeshima,” said Sean Murphy, a professor of law at George Washington University.

“This should not be surprising. For example, I doubt that Koreans are aware of the dispute between the United States and Canada regarding the Machias Seal Island in the Gulf of Maine, nor aware of measures taken by either country to emphasize their respective claims.”

“The Japanese may regard Dokdo as a territorial issue, but the Koreans’ stand is that Dokdo has historical significance because it was among land taken during the Japanese invasion,” said Yu Ha-young, research fellow at the Dokdo Research Institute, which is affiliated with the Northeast Asian History Foundation.

“This is the difference between the two countries, and the various promotional activities on Dokdo aim to point out that Dokdo is Korean territory. When foreigners visit Dokdo, they realize that it’s visible from Ulleung Island and a Korean territory,” Yu said.