Masan, SK lays claim to Tsushima in retaliation... Options

[CJK]

South Korean city council lays claim to Japanese island in escalating territorial dispute
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BURT HERMAN | Associated Press
March 18, 2005

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A city council passed a resolution Friday commemorating Korean claims to a Japanese island, a tit-for-tat measure after a similar move by a Japanese provincial assembly over South Korean-controlled islets that enflamed anti-Japanese emotions.

The South Korean government also spurned Tokyo's attempts to calm the escalating dispute, and Japan warned traveling citizens to avoid protests in South Korea, where an activist set himself on fire. South Korea's Coast Guard said it was reinforcing patrols around the Dokdo islets, called Takeshima in Japan, doubling the number of ships responsible for monitoring the area to six.

The long-simmering dispute erupted this week when a local Japanese assembly voted to designate a special day to commemorate Tokyo's claim to the islets between the two countries, triggering intense anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea. The move was symbolic, but the central Tokyo government has refused to directly repudiate the vote.

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Seeking to broaden the dispute to another previously contested territory, South Korea's Masan city council on Friday voted to mark June 19 as "Daemado Day," the Korean name for Japan's Tsushima islands just 50 kilometers (30 miles) off the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Some South Korean historians argue those islands _ considerably larger than the other disputed islets and home to 40,500 people _ were once controlled by Korea, and the date commemorates when Korean General Yi Jong-mu headed there in the 15th century to conquer it.

"The move is aimed at raising awareness of people at home and abroad that Daemado is our territory," the Masan council said in a statement after the vote, passed unanimously by the 29 members present.

Tsushima city official Hideo Nejime said even though the islands border South Korea they have been under Japanese control for centuries. U.S. occupation forces kept them as part of Japan when Korean leaders claimed territorial rights after Japan's World War II defeat, he said.

"We have had close economic ties with South Korea, but throughout history we are part of Japan and there is no question about it," Nejime said.

The tensions showed no sign of abating after South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Friday said Tokyo needed to do more, responding to a statement late Thursday by the Japanese foreign minister that Tokyo accepts the pain it has caused in the past and has sympathy with Koreans' feelings.

"What is important is that in the future, the Japanese government show actions, not words," Ban told senior officials from the governing Uri Party, the party said.

The row over the islets could threaten a boom in Japanese travel to South Korea spawned in part by the massive popularity of a South Korean soap opera. Some 2 million Japanese went to South Korea in the first 10 months of 2004, compared to 1.8 million in all of 2003.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said Friday it issued a travel notice urging citizens to stay away from protests in South Korea.

"Various groups are holding protest rallies around the Japanese Embassy, and they are expected to continue for a while," said the warning, posted on the ministry's Web site. "Please do not go near the venue of demonstrations so as not to get involved in unnecessary troubles."

The embassy in central Seoul has become a venue for daily demonstrations. On Friday, a man poured paint thinner on himself and jumped into a fire where protesters were burning Japanese flags and boxes symbolizing Japanese goods, police said.

He was hospitalized but his life wasn't in danger, police said. Other protesters have cut off their own fingers.

To reinforce Seoul's claim to the territory, five South Korean lawmakers from various parties were flying Friday by helicopter to the islets and were planning to issue a statement there reaffirming that the land is Korean territory, the Uri Party said.

South Korea keeps a small detachment of police on the islets, effectively controlling them, and said this week it would open them to more visitors.

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[kpjoon]

Smart move.

Now the Japanese politicians can get a taste of their own medicine

[hi-head]

God-awesome idea. I've always thought that taemado is ours, and that we should take that if the jps continue to pick on tokdo. In fact, tsushima's residents should realize themselves that they are korean, and break free from japan's control.

Did yall know that tsushima's dialect is very close to korean(the pusan dialect), in fact it is korean language forced astray by japanese officials?

[Jizzah]

^ Didn't know that but I guess I do now.

I like this maneuver. Also, I think Koreans are hardcore with all that burning and cutting off of fingers.

[kpjoon]

God-awesome idea. I've always thought that taemado is ours, and that we should take that if the jps continue to pick on tokdo. In fact, tsushima's residents should realize themselves that they are korean, and break free from japan's control.

Did yall know that tsushima's dialect is very close to korean(the pusan dialect), in fact it is korean language forced astray by japanese officials?

Interesting... I always did think Ssaturi sounded like Japanese.

[Ogumo]

This keeps getting better and better. No the only thing left is for the first shots to be fired.

[MING-LOYALIST]

Do Koreans actually have any basis to claim the island or are they just playing.

[CJK]

It was once a korean island. koreans believe that it was "stolen" from them and not taken thru "formal" means such as an invasion. Joseon had some policy that all of its citizens should live on the mainland; japanese saw that there were no actual joseon citizens on tsushima and claimed it as theirs, the same basis of their claim on dok-do today. I dont think its a serious claim, but more of a symbolic one to let the japanese get a taste of they do so often.