Dokdo-claiming event expected to worsen Korea-Japan ties

Dokdo-claiming event expected to worsen Korea-Japan ties. February. 23, 2013 07:14. bae2150@donga.com.

Japan`s Shimane Prefecture on Friday held a ceremony in the provincial capital of Matsue to mark the so-called Takeshima Day, attended by some 500 people including a vice minister-level official and members of the Japanese parliament.

Takeshima is the Japanese name for Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, which Tokyo has laid territorial claim.

Though the event was held by the prefecture at a major conference hall in Matsue, the Japanese government in an unprecedented move sent a representative from the Cabinet Office, parliamentary secretary Aiko Shimajiri, to attend this year`s ceremony. Nineteen lawmakers also joined, including the son of former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Prior to the ceremony, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minister Yoshihide Suga told a news conference in Tokyo that sending Shimajiri would clarify the Japanese government’s stance on the territorial dispute with Korea. He said Tokyo hopes to widely enlighten the public on the matter.

In the ceremony, Shimajiri said Takeshima was Japanese territory and a “very important issue regarding natural resources.”

Eriko Yamanami, a lawmaker of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, received applause when saying it was “painful” to see Korea hold a fashion show or install a helipad on the islets.

Jin Matsubara, former chairman of the National Public Security Commission, even claimed that the U.S. acknowledges Takeshima as Japanese territory. On Aug. 15 last year, he visited the maligned Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead including Class A war criminals, in a first for the Democratic Party of Japan’s Cabinet members. In the ceremony, a slogan was heard calling Korea a “thief” from the audience.

Shimane Prefecture adopted a letter of intent urging the Japanese government to take the dispute to the International Court of Justice and upgrade the ceremony to a central government-level event. Shimane Gov. Zembee Mizoguchi claimed that the Japanese people have heightened calls on Tokyo to strongly respond to the matter since Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited the islets last summer. A village head from Okinoshima, the Japanese island closest to Dokdo, urged the deployment of Japanese troops on the islets and dispatch of a large patrol ship.

Outside the ceremony`s venue, Korean protesters and members of Japanese right-wing groups clashed amid heavy security by some 400 Japanese police officers. Seven members of the National Network to Guard Dokdo, a Korean civic group, placed a banner urging Japan to “stop invading Dokdo” and fluttered Korea’s national flag, clashing with about 10 members of Japanese right-wing activists.

The head of the Dokdo Guardians, another Korean civic group, scattered leaflets saying Dokdo is Korean territory when he was grabbed by the collar by Japanese right-wing activists. The clash did not escalate, however, as police separated them immediately.

Held just three days before Park Geun-hye`s inauguration as Korea`s next president, Takeshima Day is expected to negatively affect bilateral relations. Tension is set to further escalate as Japan plans to announce the results of its review of high school textbooks containing a stronger territorial claim to Dokdo.