 Korean Peninsula in 1910. The islets were returned to Seoul upon its liberation following Japan’s defeat in World War II.
Thus for Koreans, Dokdo was the first part of their territory to fall victim to Japanese colonial rule. Tokyo’s continued claim to them epitomizes that it has yet to repent for its wartime wrongdoings.
“To the people of Korea, Dokdo is not simply a matter of a small outcrop of rocks off its coast, but a symbol of being deprived of their independence and sovereignty for 35 long and painful years,” Shin Yong-ha, president of the Dokdo Institute, an independent research group, wrote in his book, “Korea’s Territorial Rights to Dokdo.”
For many Ulleungdo residents, Dokdo is their bread and butter, as it was for some Japanese fishermen.
A 1998 bilateral fisheries agreement put Dokdo in the overlapping section of the two countries’ exclusive economic zones.
The surrounding waters, where cool and warm currents meet, form a habitat for migratory fish such as salmon, trout, codfish, Alaskan pollock, pacific saury and sharks. In the winter squid season, the lights of fishing boats dot the ocean every night. The volume of catch in this area typically determines the price of seafood in the local market.
“When we were out to sea in the past, we often bumped into Japanese fishing boats,” said Kim Seong-do, who has been living on and around Dokdo for the past four decades.
“But it’s outrageous for them to say that Dokdo is their land. … It unnerves me to hear them making the argument so easily.”
The 74-old-fisherman and his wife Kim Sin-yeol are the two sole civilian residents. Sharing the residence with them is a small group of coast guards.
“Since we rotate on a 50-day cycle, we only do training for 50 days on Ulleungdo before being evaluated and dispatched to Dokdo,” Chang Il-young, chief of the Ulleungdo Dokdo Coast Guard, told The Korea Herald.
“Assuming there is a contingency on Dokdo, we basically practice martial arts, rappelling and swimming, and run other drills involving training guns and boats.”
A police officer stands guard on Dokdo. (The Korea Herald file photo)
Territorial tension has become more acute as both countries’ leaders attempt to use sovereignty claims and other populist policy issues as a political weapon.
The bilateral relationship suffered one of the biggest diplomatic crises in years in 2005 when Japan’s Shimane Prefecture assembly set Feb. 22 as Takeshima Day to highlight the decades-long assertion.
The move added to Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro’s repeated trips to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, his administration’s stipulation of Dokdo as its territory in diplomatic and defense papers, its endorsement of school textbooks whitewashing the country’s imperial past.
The chain of moves prompted then-President Roh Moo-hyun to deliver a special address, calling Tokyo’s claim “an act of negating the complete liberation and independence of Korea.”
Despite a brief letup, the ties sank to a new low after Roh’s successor Lee Myung-bak became the first Korean leader to visit Dokdo in August 2012. Then-Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda renewed the country’s 1954 demand that the case be taken to the International Court of Justice before the U.N. General Assembly, which Seoul dismissed.
Today the dynamics surrounding the relationship are apparently growing ever more complex and multi-faceted, with Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe further stepping up the ownership argument through alongside other hawkish foreign and defense policies.
The nationalist commander-in-chief sent a vice minister-level official to the regional Takeshima Day event for the first time in February 2013. His administration installed a new office responsible for territorial sovereignty issues within the Cabinet Secretariat last year, while pushing to revise guidelines for middle and high school textbooks to describe Dokdo as Japan’s territory.
Tokyo secured 1 billion yen ($9.5 million) for territorial issue-related expenses this year, up a staggering 20 percent from a year ago. That is more than twice Seoul’s budget