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Japan-South Korea ties on the rocks
By Kosuke Takahashi
TOKYO - When are a few sea-swept, uninhabited rocky islets more than a bunch of
rocks? When they involve lucrative fisheries  and
emotional issues that hark back to the days of the Japanese Empire.
The two tiny, rocky islets surrounded by 33 smaller rocks also represent
sovereignty and national pride for both Japan and South Korea - though Seoul
controls them now and the lucrative fishing in the area. The disputes over the
islands - called Tokdo by Koreans and Takeshima by Japanese - threaten the
recent rapprochement between the two neighbors and represent a significant
political and economic setback. The South Korean public is so incensed that
hundreds have poured into the streets to protest and the united front against
North Korea's nuclear ambitions is cracking.
The
most recent dispute erupted on February 23 when
the assembly in Shimane Prefecture, the Japanese
territory closest to the island, submitted a bill
to set up a symbolic prefectural ordinance
establishing
February 22 as Takeshima Day,
named for the Japanese-claimed
island - and infuriating South
Korea. A comment on February 23 by Toshiyuki Takano, the Japanese ambassador to Seoul,
saying the islands are part of Japanese territory exacerbated the situation.
This marine tinderbox was ignored for years, and it has now blown up,
metaphorically and politically speaking, with powerful financial, trade and
diplomatic repercussions for both nations - and for Northeast Asia as a whole,
particularly as regards the North Korea nuclear crisis.
On Tuesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tokyo would find
it difficult to resume stalled talks quickly on signing a free-trade agreement
with South Korea this year because of the Takeshima/Tokdo (also known as Tokto
or Dokto) territorial dispute, Kyodo News reported.
A day earlier, South Korea announced that it would set up a parliamentary
committee to press Seoul's claims over the contested islets.
The feud over the rocky and remote islets in the Sea of Japan (known in Korea
as the East Sea) claimed by both Tokyo and Seoul has already chilled the recent
warming of the two countries' relations. South Korea regards the islands as
Japan's first step in its colonial aggression and march into Korea, which it
occupied from 1910-45; Japan incorporated the islets in 1905. Japanese
fishermen and politicians, on the other hand, are deeply resentful of what they
believe is rightfully their territory and livelihood.
The issue has sparked passionate protests in Seoul, where demonstrators claim
their sovereignty is being violated. Two Korean demonstrators even cut off
their fingers outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to show their fury.
Activists gathering around the embassy have burned Japan's national flag and
photos of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, while some civil groups and
"netizens" have declared a boycott of Japanese goods, according to Japanese and
Korean media.
The two countries' relations will likely be further challenged in the coming
month, as South Korea is poised to hold crucial by-elections for national
legislators on April 30. The ruling Uri Party and the main opposition Grand
National Party are both very likely to go along with the hardline stance over
this unresolved territorial issue with Tokyo, to demonstrate their nationalist
credentials and win the majority control of the national assembly.
The fuss over a controversial Japanese junior-high-school history textbook will
also likely add fuel to Seoul's flames of ire, as Japan's Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is expected to announce its
screening results of the textbook early next month. Although 2005, which will
see the 40th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic ties between Japan
and South Korea, has been designated Friendship Year, the by-election and
approval of a textbook are both sure to strain relations.
For the Japanese, especially people in Shimane who live closest to the fishing
grounds, this territorial dispute is a major fisheries and economic issue
rather than a pure territorial and political dispute, which usually stirs up
national sentiment just as in South Korea. In Japan, Takeshima is known as a
rich fishing ground that is in effect occupied by South Korea. Thus Japanese
fishermen have complained that they have been virtually pushed out of the area
for many years. Meanwhile, South Koreans strongly believe that Tokdo was the
first victim of Japan's colonial invasion of Korean territory and they consider
Tokyo's territorial claim to be infringement upon their interests and
sovereignty. For them, this issue is a microcosm of Japan's brutal colonial
occupation.
This is not the only territorial dispute faced by Japan. To the south, it is
engaged in a sovereignty dispute over the Senkaku Islands (known in China as
the Diaoyu Islands) and competing development of offshore gas fields in the
East China Sea. In the north, it has the thorny issue of the Russian-held
Northern Territories, known in Russia as the Southern Kurils.
Unless Japan and South Korea swiftly take steps to stop the current torrent of
anti-Japanese feelings and distrust among Koreans, the situation could
deteriorate further, delivering a devastating blow to the progress toward
better bilateral relations that has been achieved since the two nations
co-hosted the 2002 World Cup and, more recently, social and cultural exchanges
exemplified by the recent culture boom called Han-Ryu (Korean wave) in
Japan.
For the time being, Japanese politicians, especially rightists, should avoid
provocative actions and remarks over this territorial dispute and the related
textbook row, while the South Korean government and media need to calm down,
take a deep breath to control their anger and avoid been swept up in the
counterproductive wave of nationalism.
Thorny issue shelved at one time
Takeshima is 157 kilometers northwest of Oki Island and 74km from South Korea's
nearest island, and it consists of two small islets with a total area of 0.23
square kilometer, plus a scattering of rocks nearby. In terms of size, this is
trifling - less than one-tenth the area of Central Park in Manhattan, New York
City. Takeshima literally means "bamboo island" in Japanese. This is because it
is said that this disputed outcropping of volcanic rock used to be more
bamboo-shaped, with more rough edges, as seen from a distance. Bamboo, however,
cannot grow there. Now the islets look more rounded because of weathering.
Meanwhile, in Korean, Tokdo literally means "lonely island" or "independent
island".
Historically, both sides have maintained territorial claims and have been at
loggerheads over the boundary. The simmering issue, however, flares only
occasionally, as it has recently.
Behind this skirmishing are three major points of contention:
Which country found the islands first and then controlled them effectively.
The validity of Japan's incorporation of Takeshima into its own territory in
January 1905, around the time when Japan in effect deprived Korea of its
diplomatic power and property rights. On February 22 in the same year, Shimane
prefecture declared the island to be part of its territory. South Korea calls
the incorporation of Takeshima null and void, since it was in no position at
the time of its implementation to lodge strong opposition to Tokyo.
The final point is the ambiguity of the interpretations of Supreme Commander of
Allied Powers (SCAP) Douglas MacArthur's Instruction Note No 677 of January 29,
1946, during the occupation of Japan after World War II. This note excluded the
islands from Japan's administrative authority. However, the instruction
specifically stated that it was not an "ultimate determination" of the islands'
future sovereignty. All other islands listed in the document eventually were
returned to Japan. The 1952 Treaty of San Francisco, which settled the
sovereignty of most other disputed islands, did not mention Takeshima.
The two sides have opposite views and interpretations of these three points.
(For more details, see the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs'
The Issue of Takeshima and South Korea's Gyeongsangbuk-do Province's
offical site:
http://old.dokdo.go.kr/english/html/territory/info_district.html)
Since the end of World War II and Japan's colonial rule in the Korean
Peninsula, South Korea has claimed the islands and maintained effective control
over them since 1952, when South Korean president Syngman Rhee issued the
so-called Rhee Line, declaring the nation's sovereignty over waters adjacent to
the Korean Peninsula, including the Tokdo.
Since this dispute had been the thorniest issue between two countries, the two
countries shelved it when they concluded the normalization treaty in 1965. In
1999, the two countries agreed to put waters around the islands under tentative
joint control without sorting out the territorial claims. Both sides agreed not
to set an exclusive economic zone around the islands and they clearly spelled
out rules on areas where vessels could operate, but Japanese fishing boats have
still been blocked from the area.
According to an Asahi Shimbun report, "From around 1980, Japanese and South
Korean fishing vessels have worked within such close range of each other around
Takeshima that fishing nets have been damaged. That led Shimane fishermen to
ask the prefectural government to take action to prevent further problems."
This led the prefecture's politicians to ask the central government to assert
Japan's sovereignty over Takeshima. But central government officials and
national politicians have been very reluctant to take any actions, apparently
seeking to avoid another row with Seoul. This is the reason critics say Tokyo
officials and politicians may have been asleep at the switch. Fueling the feud
was Seoul's decision in 2002 to turn the islands into a national park and South
Korea's issue of a national stamp January 2004, which featured Tokdo. Shimane
prefectural assembly members were upset by Tokyo's decision not to play up the
problem. Particularly, the prefecture has long requested that the central
government give the same attention to Takeshima as it does to the Northern
Territories, the four islands off Hokkaido that are held by Russia but claimed
by Japan.
According to a Mainichi Shimbun report, a fishery cooperative in Oki Island,
the closest island to Takeshima, has fishing rights within a 500-meter radius
of Takeshima. But the cooperative's vessels cannot go near the disputed
islands, since they would be arrested by South Korean authorities. Seoul has a
small military garrison on one of the islets. Fish catches off Oki in 2003
totaled 70,000 tons, less than half of 1993, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
Frustrated by Tokyo's inaction on the Takeshima matter, the Shimane prefecture
has taken a first step toward declaring its ownership of Takeshima. Seoul
reacted with fury. South Korea postponed a scheduled visit by Foreign Minister
Ban Ki-moon. The governor of Kyongsangbuk-do province said he was severing all
sister-city ties with Shimane prefecture and recalled all of staff from
Shimane. Many cultural and sports exchanges and sister-city programs involving
the two countries' local governments, including Iwate, Nagano, Aomori and
Saitama prefectures on Japan's side, have been canceled because of concerns
over intensifying anti-Japanese feelings in South Korea. Some of those
cancellations were reportedly requested by their Korean counterparts.
Further, last Friday Masan city council in South Kyongsang province in South
Korea passed a bill declaring its territorial jurisdiction over Japan's
Tsushima Island. Although Seoul called on the council to withdraw the bill, the
local body rejected the central government's appeal, stressing the council's
independent authority to enact relevant legislation.
Moreover, last Wednesday, South Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration
announced that Seoul would lift restrictions on visiting the disputed islets to
reaffirm its actual control over the territory by opening access to them. The
government currently restricts the number of visitors to 70 people a day,
citing environmental and security reasons, and prohibits reporters from
visiting the islands. Every visitor is required to get permission from the
governor of North Kyongsang province, which has jurisdiction over the islets.
But the central administration will hold discussions with the local government
on raising the visitation quota to about 141 visitors a day, while changing the
current system requiring official approval into one of simple declaration by
visitors. This new system is expected to take effect from this Thursday. The
South Korean authorities will also lift prohibitions of on-site media coverage,
Japanese and Korean media have reported.
Most important, the Takeshima issue has spilled over into the Blue House
presidential office in Seoul. Last Thursday South Korea suddenly changed its
policy stance toward Tokyo. It announced a set of principles, including a
demand that Tokyo apologize for its past World War II aggression and compensate
Koreans victimized during the war. Until recently, South Korean President Roh
Moo-hyun had indicated that his administration would not raise the history
issue in bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea. Now that has
changed.
The new set of principles also included the approval of junior-high-school
history textbooks about Japan's role in Korea, China and other Asian countries
that Seoul says distort history. In addition, the new principles call for
compensation to South Koreans forced to work as "comfort women" during World
War II, as well as those who were in Hiroshima or Nagasaki when the United
States dropped atomic bombs on those cities in the waning days of the war.
Prime Minister Koizumi told reporters later last Friday that the two nations
should look toward the future. "Overcoming emotional confrontation, we should
take measures that are forward-looking and which consider ways of developing
friendship into the future," Koizumi said, playing down Roh's new stance in
dealing with Tokyo. "Rather than only be concerned about the past, it is
important for both sides to promote friendship through a future-oriented way of
thinking."
The tension between Japan and South Korea appears not to be allayed by the fact
they are important trading nations. Japan is South Korea's third-largest
trading partner after China and the United States, while South Korea is Japan's
third-largest trading partner after China and the US.
Japan and South Korea are negotiating a free-trade agreement (FTA) to
strengthen economic ties. The two sides originally aimed to strike the
agreement within this year, but the territorial dispute has clouded Japan-Korea
economic relations as well. Because of the public fury in Seoul, Korean
officials have been unable to return to the negotiating table, although Koizumi
and Roh had agreed to resume the negotiations at their summit meeting in
Kagoshima prefecture last December. (The FTA talks already had been strained
largely by the issue of reduction of tariff rates on farm and marine products.)
The current row over the islets comes at a time when the US, Japan and South
Korean are making a common effort as allies to defuse the North Korean nuclear
crisis. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il must be gratified by this row, seeing a
possible split in the coalition (the six-party talks involved North and South
Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States); the US must be annoyed by
deteriorating relations among its allies. All members of the six-party talks
(excluding the US) are increasingly concerned by the United States' inflexible
attitude when it comes to North Korea and making reasonable concessions to
solve the crisis.
In the whirlwind of international politics, domestic politics does matter. The
issue of the rocky, marine-life-rich islets is a manifestation of both
countries' mounting domestic and local difficulties. Politicians everywhere,
especially populists, like to seize the mood of the moment and jump on the
bandwagon, acceding to domestic and local public criticism to win points. But
they need to avoid riding the wave of nationalist sentiment, especially when
trying to preserve and stabilize endangered regional security is so much more
important.
Kosuke Takahashi is a former staff writer at the Asahi Shimbun and is
currently a freelance correspondent based in Tokyo. He can be contacted at
letters@kosuke.net.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us
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