S.Korea raps Japan's claim to Islets
By JONG-HEON LEE
UPI Correspondent
SEOUL, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Nationwide campaigns have heated up in South Korea to protect a disputed island chain after Japan renewed its territorial claim to Dokdo, a series of rocky South Korean-held islets also known as Takeshima in Japan.
Rekindling the territorial dispute between the two neighbors, Japan's Shimane Prefecture held festivities Wednesday to mark the first "Takeshima Day," arranged by the local government to promote their nation's claim to the islands that lie about halfway between the Korean peninsula and Japan's largest islet.
The Shimane Prefecture designated Feb. 22 as "Takeshima Day" in March last year, triggering angry protests and anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea.
On the first anniversary of the designation, Shimane held a ceremony and called for the central government to reinforce its claim to the islands.
"We'll call on the government to negotiate (with South Korea) in a tenacious manner to resolve the issue," Shimane Governor Nobuyoshi Sumita said in an address.
Seoul's Foreign Ministry expressed strong regret over Shimane Prefecture's renewed campaign to lay claim to the islands. Dokdo has long been the source of a territorial spat between the two neighboring nations.
"The (Seoul) government expresses strong regret over the Shimane Prefecture's designation of 'Dokdo Day' and its celebration of the day on Feb. 22," the ministry said in a statement, asserting that South Korea would deal sternly with any attempts to infringe on its sovereignty over Dokdo.
Hundreds of civic activists staged a protest rally in front of the Japanese embassy in central Seoul which was tightly guarded by riot police, citing the move as a "second invasion" by the Japanese which colonized the Korean peninsula from 1910-45.
"It is an act of territorial invasion to push for the event to mark 'Takeshima Day' despite the fact that Dokdo belongs to South Korea by history and international law," they said in a statement.
The protestors called for Shimane Prefecture to withdraw its designation of "Takeshima Day."
They shouted anti-Japanese slogans behind a truck draped with signs reading "Boycott Japanese goods." The truck circled around the embassy building, loudly playing a song titled "Dokdo is our land."
Activists also called for President Roh Moo-hyun to make a trip to Dokdo, saying it would send a strong message to Japan and the world on Seoul's resolution to defend its sovereignty over the islands.
A group of civic leaders also traveled to Shimane Prefecture to protest its claim to the islands, accompanied by South Korean journalists.
Earlier this week, three South Korean civilians moved onto the inhabited rocky islets to boost Seoul's sovereignty. They became the first civilians in a decade to reside on the volcanic outcroppings, where South Korea has only stationed a small detachment of police.
Two South Koreans lived on the main island for a few years in the early 1990s, but had to move to a bigger island nearby after their home and fishing boat were destroyed by a heavy storm.
Early last year, Japan insisted Dokdo "historically and legally" belonged to Japan, sparking nationwide anti-Japanese protests in which some citizens sliced off their own fingers.
On Feb 22, 1905, Japan's Shimane prefecture passed a municipal notice incorporating the disputed islets as part of its jurisdiction, saying it was held by nobody.
But South Korea says its records show it has owned the islands since AD 512 and had ruled them since the 15th century. Korea regained independence from Japan after World War II, taking back sovereignty over Dokdo and other islets around the Korean peninsula.
South Korea was more upset at Japan's approval of textbooks that reinforce Japan's territorial claim. The books carry a picture of Dokdo with a caption that says South Korea "illegally" occupies the islets.
Seoul-Tokyo ties have already been at their lowest ebb following Japan's publication of history textbooks whitewashing the country's wartime atrocities and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial visits to the Yasukuni war shrine.
The shrine in Tokyo honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including a dozen war criminals from World War II, and is viewed by Koreans and Chinese as a symbol of Japanese imperialism.
South Korean Ambassador to Japan Ra Jong-yil on Wednesday warned that soured ties between the two countries cannot be restored as long as Japanese leaders continue to pay homage at the controversial war shrine.