 Singer Kim Jang-hoon, right, and activist Seo Kyoung-duk speak during a press conference in Seoul, Wednesday, after Japan published new school textbooks emphasizing its territorial claims to Dokdo. Kim and Seo, who have led various campaigns to promote the islets as Korean territory, condemned the Japanese government for renewing its claim to the islets. / Yonhap |
By Han Sang-hee
Japan’s recent territorial claims to the Dokdo islets in the latest editions of its school textbooks is pouring cold water on what was a warming relationship with Korea following the earthquake and tsunami there.
The Japanese government announced the authorization of the new textbooks containing references to Dokdo as its territory, Wednesday, so middle schools will begin using them next school year.
Its announcement comes at a time when many South Koreans gave donations to help earthquake-stricken Japanese recover from the disaster.
Most Koreans expressed disappointment with Tokyo’s renewed claims over South Korea’s easternmost islets, though some believe that the donations for the quake victims should not be linked to the territorial dispute.
Sense of betrayal
“I donated money after watching the news covering the disaster and the Japanese people trying hard to cope with the difficult situations, but now I’m not so sure I want to anymore. I was so mad when I read the news,” said 30-year-old office worker Kwon Mi-young.
Another office worker who was thinking of creating a webpage with his friends to support Japan said he was scrapping the plan altogether.
“I know it seems a bit foolish, but we decided not to make the webpage. Of course, I understand that it’s important to help our neighbors when they are in need, but this is ridiculous,” said Lim Jung-ho, a 25-year-old university student.
Many Koreans have shown their respect and support by donating money through various outlets. According to the Korean Red Cross, more than 21 billion won ($19 million) was collected for 14 days since it started a collection program, which was the agency’s largest amount of donations collected for a single natural disaster. Numerous universities, firms and organizations have pulled up their sleeves to support the neighboring country, but with the news that Japan was pushing their textbook plans the friendly relationship headed towards rough roads.
Evidently, the number of donations made to the Korean Red Cross has started to decrease. The organization explained that the donations made through ARS phone calls marked some 10 million won on Saturday, and 9.9 million on Sunday but fell to 5.7 million won Monday.
Donations made to other organizations such as the Community Chest of Korea and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also began to decrease Friday.
“I’ve been listening to the news with passengers, and most of them say they just feel a bit betrayed. Of course, I understand the Japanese people who were hit by the tsunami were not the ones who made the decision, but it still feels like the people in charge should look at the bigger picture,” said 56-year-old taxi driver Kim Mun-sik.
Two different issues
While Internet users have also strongly expressed their feelings on the touchy issue through blog posts and Twitter, many others suggested that the two are unrelated issues and that Koreans should not try to connect the two with such negative emotions.
“Suddenly stopping the donations and not sending them aid would be dealing with the issue too emotionally. A natural disaster is a natural disaster, and Dokdo is Dokdo,” said 52-year-old housewife Jung Kyung-mi.
Singer Kim Jang-hoon, who has been campaigning and promoting Dokdo as Korea’s and its territorial rights for the past few years, also emphasized that Koreans must remain calm and proceed with whatever relief efforts they had.
“I’m not very surprised about the textbook issue considering the past decisions by the Japanese government,” he said during a press conference Wednesday at Yeouido.
“Of course I’m mad about the textbooks, but being mad will not change anything. The Dokdo issue is a fact, and relief activities regarding the earthquake are humanitarianism. I think it is right to continue the aid, but we should continue what we are doing (regarding Dokdo) too.”
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