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Japan to claim ownership in its textbooks
July 15, 2008
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Seoul and Tokyo are set for another round in their decades-long territorial dispute over a set of small, rocky islets in the East Sea. Tokyo, after months of deliberation, announced a plan yesterday to define the Dokdo Islets as Japanese territory in new book of education guidelines for middle school students. The move comes despite repeated warnings from Seoul that doing so would disrupt relations between the two countries. In response, Seoul summoned Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Toshinori Shigeie to file a complaint and decided to call South Korea’s Ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-hyeon back to Korea. The government also announced a series of measures to cement South Korea’s control over the islets, a group of about 33 rocks 215 kilometers (133 miles) off South Korea’s east coast. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said yesterday that the Japanese government will describe Dokdo as its territory in the new education guidelines beginning in 2012. The current textbooks do not mention the islets, which are called Takeshima in Japan. Yesterday’s decision has been anticipated since May when Japanese media reported Tokyo was considering such a move. Seoul responded angrily at the time, summoning Shigeie to the Foreign Ministry here in protest and warning against the move. But the warning appears to have fallen on deaf ears. “The government as a whole deems it necessary to teach about the Takeshima Islands,” Machimura said. “We expect the South Korean side to react calmly.” The reaction from Seoul was anything but. President Lee Myung-bak expressed “deep disappointment and regrets” over Tokyo’s move, given the two countries’ pledge just months ago to seek future-oriented relations while setting aside past historical issues, according to the Blue House spokesman Lee Dong-kwan. “Japan should stop repeatedly taking issue with Dokdo whenever the administration changes here, even after promising to seek future-oriented relations,” the spokesman quoted President Lee as saying. The Foreign Ministry also made an unusually intense response, along with other agencies. “The Japanese government, which has distorted past history through its textbooks, has made yet another illegitimate attempt to ruin our territorial right to Dokdo,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Moon Tae-young said in a briefing yesterday. “Our government can never accept that and we strongly urge the Japanese government to stop such attempts ... We highlight again that we will take stern measures on any attempt to ruin our territorial rights on Dokdo.” Moon stressed that Dokdo is Korean territory “in terms of history, geography and international law.” He also said the government decided to bring Kwon back to Seoul temporarily as a protest. Kwon, who will first visit Japan’s foreign ministry to file a complaint, will be back in Seoul as early as tomorrow. It is the first time for South Korea to withdraw its ambassador to Japan since 2001 when Seoul summoned former ambassador Choi Sang-ryong in protest against history textbook revisions. Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan also summoned Shigeie at 5 p.m. for the second time this year to register a complaint. During the meeting, Yu “strongly urged” the Japanese government to “immediately delete” the part about Dokdo in the new education guidelines.” “He also expressed the deepest regret that the latest change would give the wrong territorial impression to Japan’s young generations,” said a senior ministry official who asked for the customary anonymity. Seoul yesterday pledged to take several measures to cement its control over Dokdo, currently occupied by the South Korean police and three local fishermen. For one thing, the Maritime Ministry will announce plans for sustainable development on Dokdo, including measures to preserve oceanic resources and to better maintain government installations on the islets. The Education Minister will also send a letter of protest to his Japanese counterpart, while the National Police Agency, which has a complement of 37 officers on the islets, will beef up monitoring near the area. By Jung Ha-won Staff Reporter [hawon@joongang.co.kr] |
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