What US doesn’t get about Dokdo
By Jason Lim Scott Snyder is a senior fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy at the prestigious Council on Foreign Affairs (CFR) and founder and former director of Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at the Asia Foundation. In his latest CFR blog post titled, “South Korea’s Small Think with Japan,” Snyder writes that Lee made a strategic mistake by going to Dokdo and, “suggesting that Japan as the bigger country should act in accord with its national power to address historical issues. I believe that Lee is thinking small, investing disproportionate emphasis on a single, limited issue at the expense of South Korea’s broader regional and global interests.” He goes on to argue, “Lee’s visit may hold great emotional importance for those who are still focused on past historical injustices between South Korea and Japan, but it distracts from the central reality that ultimately must propel relations between the two countries.” And that central reality is that Japan and Korea have more in common than not and that a strong relationship serves both count