“Is the CIA Taking Sides With Japan Over Dokdo?”

“Is the CIA Taking Sides With Japan Over Dokdo?”. March. 13, 2005 22:49. by Jae-Dong Yu jarrett@donga.com.

It has been reported that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is reflecting Japan’s logic of claiming ownership of Dokdo in its government information report.

The “cyber diplomats,” the Voluntary Agency Network Korea (VANK, www.prkorea.com), said on March 13 that after investigating the World Factbook published by the U.S. CIA, it concluded that the CIA is increasingly siding with Japan’s claim on the Dokdo issue.

According to VANK, a term, “Liancourt Rocks” that indicates Dokdo on the Korean and Japanese maps of the World Factbook, was not included in 2002 but is currently emphasized in arrow form starting last year.

The words “Liancourt Rocks” originated from Liancourt, a French whaler that discovered Dokdo in 1849, and is another name for Dokdo by a third country that Japan is now spreading worldwide in order not to approve of Korea’s ownership of Dokdo.

Back in January 2002, the Factbook briefly introduced Dokdo by saying that the controversial Dokdo and Takeshima issue between Korea and Japan became a territorial dispute by Japanese insistence.

However, the Factbook added the words “intensified” and “protests highlight,” in its explanation last year.

Especially, this year, the words of “unresolved” and “fishing rights” were newly reflected in the book, and regarding the matter, the VANK commented that the assertion that Japan maintains in the international community is thoroughly used.

The VANK added that after the CIA accepted Japan’s distorted claim, the major websites in the world are rapidly following in the CIA’s footsteps.

The VANK said that in fact, the number of foreign major websites that write Dokdo and Takeshima together increased from 622 to 2,010 in the period of July and December last year and the number currently totals 2,180.

In addition, the VANK added that the CIA demonstrated stark differences in its rendering of Korean history compared to that Korea’s neighboring countries. It starts its introductions of Japan and China by highlighting their glorious history and civilization, but it begins its Korean section with the Korean War, without any comment on Korea’s half-million year history.

The CIA started to write Dokdo as “Dokdo/Takeshima” in the World Factbook starting last year.

Confronting the matter, the VANK will distribute 5,000 new English- version world maps that contain only “Dokdo” along with “East Sea, Dokdo” in English.