Korea warns of `stern measures` vs. Japan over Dokdo

The Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry warned Japan of "stern measures" Friday against any Japanese provocation toward Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, which are being claimed by Tokyo as its territory, in blasting Japan’s proposal to take the matter to the International Court of Justice.

“We make it clear that the Japanese proposal doesn`t even deserve passing notice as there is no territorial dispute over it," said ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young.

Japan is reportedly planning to take all step-by-step procedures for arbitration and complaint unlike in the past, when it proposed to take the Dokdo row to the international court but back off amid Korea`s opposition. Tokyo is expected to make the islets look like disputed territory to the world before strengthening its case over its claim to Dokdo.

The Japanese government is known to have accumulated significant know-how and experience in international lawsuits over territory and maritime rights, having sued Australia and New Zealand with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Tokyo is known to have prepared thousands of pages of lawsuit documents and records on Dokdo, according to sources.

Japan’s pre-emptive offensive of proposing to go to the international court is intended to get global recognition that Dokdo is disputed territory. If this strategy works, Korea could be in an unfavorable situation from the perspective of international politics.

So experts question Seoul’s complacency in that the latter can simply refuse to go to the international court because Korea effectively controls Dokdo. They say Seoul must review government organizations for responding to the Dokdo dispute and other past historical issues and urge more thorough and comprehensive government-wide measures.

Denying that the Korean government has constantly had an attitude of non-response, a Foreign Ministry official said, “We will actively express to the international community our position that Korea will not respond to the proposal (to bring the matter to the international court) because Dokdo`s territoriality is not in dispute.”

Last year, Seoul appointed Jeong Jae-min, a judge and legal expert on the Dokdo dispute, as a legal adviser to analyze precedents of international lawsuits and prepare for a case made to the international court. The government, however, refused to comment on the study and made it confidential because the research might give the impression that it conducted the study on the premise that it will go to the international court.

In a sense, refusal to go to the International Court of Justice conflicts with Seoul’s position on Japan`s past sex slavery. Korea is urging Japan to take the sex slave matter to the international court but refuses to do so with the Dokdo dispute.