Island dispute splits Tokyo, Seoul

CNN ^ | 3-15-2005 | castlek

[castlek]

Island dispute splits Tokyo, Seoul Tuesday, March 15, 2005 Posted: 10:04 PM EST (0304 GMT) South Koreans protest outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A Japanese provincial assembly voted Wednesday to assert Japan's territorial claim over a cluster of South Korean-held islands, raising the stakes in a dispute that has strained relations between the two countries.

The Shimane Prefectural Assembly approved a measure making February 22 "Takeshima Day" to celebrate Tokyo's claim of sovereignty over volcanic islets known in Korean as Dokdo, said assembly official Miho Fukushiro. The outcroppings are surrounded by rich fishing waters.

Passions over the islands have escalated rapidly in recent weeks. A Seoul city assemblyman was apprehended by police outside the Shimane legislature early Wednesday for allegedly trying to cut off one of his fingers in protest.

Two South Korean demonstrators each cut off a finger on Monday in a protest outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, and Tokyo recalled its ambassador.

Reflecting the tensions, police were out in force Wednesday in Matsue, 380 miles west of Japan, to guard against disturbances. In addition to South Korean protesters, Japanese right-wing extremists circled the area in sound trucks blasting nationalist slogans and songs.

The volcanic islets have long caused diplomatic friction between the two countries. South Korea has stationed a small detachment of police on the otherwise uninhabited islets, effectively controlling them.

Proponents of the ordinance say it is designed to promote Japan's territorial rights over the islets. Japan's Foreign Ministry insists Takeshima is "historically and legally part of the Japanese territory."

Many South Koreas, however, have been enraged by the claim, and the dispute has revived anger at Japan stemming from Tokyo's harsh 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

[castlek]

In 1905, 100 years ago, Japan claimed the ownership of Dokdo, a small rock island in the sea between Korea and Japan. Then 1910, Japan took over Korea and enslaved Korean people by 1945, when Japan got bombed after Pearl Habor invasion. In 2005, Japan again claimed the ownership of Dokdo. There seems to be a lot of people in Japan who want their nation to go out again. Very concerned..

[Darksheare]

What does this have to do with religion?
And why did you not use the original title?
This was already posted under it's original title as well.

[Darksheare]

AM, thanks for restoring the real title.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Hope they can solve this and grow up (on both sides!) and quite being such jingoistic babies.

Really, that island is nothing more than a pathetic looking bunch of jagged rocks just sticking up from the ocean, barely visible from a distance, with no possible strategic importance, no agriculture, and you could throw a rock from one end to the other.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I guess one man's "Takeshima" is another man's "Dokdo".

Maybe they could both compromise and call it "Takedo", or "Dokshima".

Flip a coin on who's word part goes first.