By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
Korean Ambassador to the United States Lee Tae-sik said he bears responsibility for failing to take timely measures to block a U.S. agency's decision to mark Dokdo as ``undesignated sovereignty.''
In a press conference in Washington Monday, Lee said that he and his staff ``are meeting with officials from the State Department and other relevant U.S. government agencies to explain that the Dokdo islets are our sovereign territory by history, international law and geography.''
He said the embassy staff are ``doing their utmost to rectify it.''
``As Korea's top envoy to the United States, I feel responsible for what had happened and for not being able to take timely measures to prevent it. I think what happened was very unfortunate.''
The incident involved a U.S. federal agency, the Board on Geographical Naming, which is charged with establishing and maintaining various international names and references for use by U.S. government agencies. Over the weekend, the agency made a noticeable change to its listing for ``Liancourt Rocks,'' the English name for Dokdo that the office uses.
Previously, the agency had defined the East Sea islets as ``South Korean territory.'' But from last Saturday, this was changed to ``undesignated sovereignty'' by the agency.
Another noticeable change is that on the agency's Web site, Japanese names Takeshima and Take-Shima are now listed at the top on the list showing alternate international references.
The ambassador said he is also implementing a number of new measures to effectively promote Dokdo as indigenous Korean territory.
``We will continue to meet with U.S. government officials to discuss this issue and to promote Korea's view. We will also build a network of academics including Korean-American scholars. We will monitor the changing situation and devise measures in a timely manner,'' he said.
Lee added that the Korean Embassy will establish a public relations team to promote Dokdo.
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan has also instructed the embassy to deliver a message of concern to the U.S. government.