Skip to main content

An Island By Any Other Name would still be disputed

Image
By
Diorama in our subway station
Is it DokDo? or TsuShima? or Liancourt Rocks?
Two very tiny islands in between Korea and Japan are the cause of an ongoing dispute between the two countries. 
They are simply large rock outcroppings, never inhabited — but national pride and potential mineral or navigation rights make their ownership valuable.
Korea claims the Dok Islands, says they were part of the old Korean kingdoms five hundred years ago and so marked on old maps.
Japan claims the Tsu Islands (the same rocks—Japanese name) because  Japan owned Korea in the first part of the 1900s so they designed the navigation maps used since then.
This is a virtual carbon copy of similar disputes about similar rock outcroppings between Japan and China; between Philippines and China; and between Vietnam and China; as well as uninhabited glaciers between India and China.   Notice a common thread in these last sets?  The recent air-rights claims made by China over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands is more worrisome because those involve big military aircraft, including US Air Force bombers.
I dare say that most Japanese citizens are not very worried about TsuShima;  but most every redblooded Korean citizen will mutter with righteous indignation when the DokDo island dispute is mentioned — “of course those islands belong to Korea, anybody can see that!”
Several public places in Seoul have signs or dioramas depicting the disputed rocks, along with explanations about the self-evident truth of their rightful ownership as part of the Land of the Morning Calm.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beirut, Byblos, and walks in the city

By
There are police, and barriers, in Beirut.  Our first 2 days in one neighborhood were quite peaceful.  Yesterday we walked further, to see more typical signs of concrete barriers and razor wire and military guards around the former President's house, and then today around the Saudi Arabian embassy.  We also note the flurry of construction activity, both buildings and roads; yet in amongst the renovated sleek apartment buildings and shopping malls are old walls pockmarked with bullet-holes, and empty shells of buildings including the bizarre alien-looking building in the center of town.      Cole and I attended a lecture by Tariq Ramadan at the American University of Beirut -- educational, fascinating even though Prof.Ramadan was speaking quite academically and not wanting to get tied down.  The question-and-answer session was even more enlightening, to hear the emotional and articulate ripostes and sallies.  About 400 people attended. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Driving everyone crazy

By
One of the lightning rods of dissent in the Kingdom is the government's refusal to permit women to drive. We know of no other nation with this ban; and to compound the confusion, there is apparently no explicit law banning it, just a reference to a decree in 1991. Like the other irritating restriction of the niqab veil, it also has no basis in the Koran, and therefore is not easily upheld in Sharia law. Recently the first name "Manal" has become a symbolic name, as the divorced Aramco IT expert -- she received awards for her expertise a few years ago -- drove a car near Coleman's high school last month and published the feat on YouTube. The deliberately banal video inflamed the sensibilities of the Saudi police, who detained Manal in the women's reformatory for 10 days. Her lawyer carefully pointed out that there was no law against her driving, and further she carefully avoided any reference to the Facebook group urging women to all drive on June 17th. St...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reservoir of European Youth, Parliament

By
 A few days ago I walked to the nearby Pasteleira Park, planning to visit the city museum at the Reservoir.  Walking through the park I noticed a large group of young people gathered in a circle, engaged in team-building activities.   My days in education attuned me to the spectacle and piqued my interest, so I sat on a nearby bench and watched as a succession of enthusiastic students ran to the center and started an activity, which all the others joined enthusiastically.  What sort of group would this be?  A typical high school class would include a portion of disinterested teens, and others only half-heartedly participating.  This crowd was unanimous in their excitement.   I also noted that the leaders were speaking in English, though the breeze muffled the words.  I walked around, found a couple of older participants on the side, with official-looking lanyards, and asked:  this was an activity of European Youth Parliament , simil...
Post a Comment
Read more