[digg=http://digg.com/world_news/Japanese_Claim_on_Dokdo_Island_Heats_Up_Stray_Thoughts]
The Japanese government have declared that their middle school history textbooks (In Asia, textbooks tend to be government-sponsored) will list Dokdo as a Japanese territory being contested. This really angers me. Japanese have absolutely no legal right to claim Dokdo Island as their territory, and also have no records to back it up.
Korean historical records indicate that Dokdo Island is a Korean territory as early as in the 17th century. On the contrary, There are no Japanese records prior to 1905 (right around the time the Japanese colonized South Korea, not very nicely, might I add) that Dokdo Island is its territory. Furthermore, the Japanese record in the 17th century even lists Dokdo as Chosun (the dynasty back then) territory. Last but not least, any right minded Korean would tell you that Dokdo is Korean territory, whilst only some of the Japanese know that the island even exists.
So why do the Japanese want a territory that almost seems insignificant? It is almost uninhabitable; right now, only about 40 national guards and 20 fishermen live on the island. It used to be that the fishing rights in the sea around it was the only real advantage to having the island. However, they have found a massive reserve of a new generation of natural gases - in solid state. The Japanese, being an island nation, want as much land as they could possibly grab, and it’s even better when the territory in question holds massive amounts of natural resources. Japan is currently in dispute with the Russian Federation and China over some other territory as well.
Thanks to Japan’s superior economic and diplomatic strength in the international community, all of the other nations have completely shut their mouths over this. Surely no one, not even the most nutjob of a Japanese, can argue with 100% certainty that Dokdo should be Japanese territory. I hear that Japan even considered war as the outcome of this dispute. Although Korea has grown much since the Korean War both economically and diplomatically, it’s in times like this that I weep for Korea’s inability to deal with situation that pertains as gravely as this to the national reputation, pride, and resources.
Tags: Korea, Japan, International, diplomatic, Dokdo, Dokdo Island, Liancourt Rocks, Takeshima, history, textbook, false information
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
This year, a new student suggested that the student body do a vow of silence for 3 hours or longer to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy. I participated. It was quite the most frustrating 3 hours I’ve had since maybe the January SAT. It was a cool experience, though. It reminded me of a quote from Star Wars: A New Hope and kind of connected it to the tragedy:
“I felt a great disturbance in the Force…as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.”-Obi-wan Kenobi
Recent Comments