Takeshima islets, an issue where ethnic pride still rules the day
09/28/2007
BY KOICHI KOSUGE,THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Japan and South Korea continue to fiercely dispute ownership of this group of remote, rocky islets in the Sea of Japan (called the East Sea in South Korea). Japan's colonizing history has cast dark shadows over the issue.
In 1946, following Japan's defeat in World War II, the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces included the Takeshima islets in a memorandum on areas from which Japan's administrative authority was removed. However, the islets were not mentioned in a list of islands to which Japan renounced its claims in the Treaty of San Francisco signed in 1951.
Maybe that is why Syngman Rhee, South Korea's first president, drew the Syngman Rhee line (Peace Line in South Korea) in international waters before the treaty took effect in 1952 to claim the Takeshima islets as South Korean territory.
Since that time, the Takeshima issue has been one of the toughest hurdles in diplomatic normalization negotiations between Japan and South Korea. In 1965, the two countries finally established diplomatic relations while agreeing to shelve the issue.
Japan tends to regard the problem as a territorial dispute, but it is a historical issue involving ethnic pride in South Korea.
The issue began with a Japanese Cabinet decision and an announcement by Shimane Prefecture in 1905 stating the incorporation of the islets into the prefecture. The Russo-Japanese War was being waged at the time. That same year, Japan stripped Korea of its diplomatic rights and made it a Japanese protectorate, rushing toward annexation five years later.
As a result, South Korea considers the Takeshima issue to be "the first case of robbery." That is why it harshly criticized the Shimane prefectural assembly for passing a "Takeshima Day" ordinance in 2005 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of its incorporation.(IHT/Asahi: September 28,2007)
09/28/2007
BY KOICHI KOSUGE,THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Japan and South Korea continue to fiercely dispute ownership of this group of remote, rocky islets in the Sea of Japan (called the East Sea in South Korea). Japan's colonizing history has cast dark shadows over the issue.
In 1946, following Japan's defeat in World War II, the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces included the Takeshima islets in a memorandum on areas from which Japan's administrative authority was removed. However, the islets were not mentioned in a list of islands to which Japan renounced its claims in the Treaty of San Francisco signed in 1951.
Maybe that is why Syngman Rhee, South Korea's first president, drew the Syngman Rhee line (Peace Line in South Korea) in international waters before the treaty took effect in 1952 to claim the Takeshima islets as South Korean territory.
Since that time, the Takeshima issue has been one of the toughest hurdles in diplomatic normalization negotiations between Japan and South Korea. In 1965, the two countries finally established diplomatic relations while agreeing to shelve the issue.
Japan tends to regard the problem as a territorial dispute, but it is a historical issue involving ethnic pride in South Korea.
The issue began with a Japanese Cabinet decision and an announcement by Shimane Prefecture in 1905 stating the incorporation of the islets into the prefecture. The Russo-Japanese War was being waged at the time. That same year, Japan stripped Korea of its diplomatic rights and made it a Japanese protectorate, rushing toward annexation five years later.
As a result, South Korea considers the Takeshima issue to be "the first case of robbery." That is why it harshly criticized the Shimane prefectural assembly for passing a "Takeshima Day" ordinance in 2005 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of its incorporation.(IHT/Asahi: September 28,2007)