Category: Dokdo Madness

This post from the Marmot about Japan’s “invasion” plans of the Dokto islands has to be the funniest post I have read all year. For those in America and across the globe that haven’t heard about the Dokto Islands dispute (If you haven’t, don’t worry the Dokto Riders are coming to a town near you), Japan and Korea have long argued over ownership of these two worthless piece of rocks. However, the squabble IMHO is not about the rocks themselves, but about fishing rights. The Dokto Islands extend Korea’s exclusive economic zone of the surrounding ocean for Korean fishermen.

Japanese fishermen dispute this economic zone and politicians back in Japan eager to gain a voting block take small measures like declaring “Takeshima Day” (the Japanese name for Dokto) in order to show solidarity with the fishermen. I think that the Japanese fishing industry feels that if they keep putting pressure on the Koreans over Dokto they will receive a favorable fishing treaty. Dokto is currently occupied by a small Korean military garrison and patroled with Korean naval destroyers even though there is no chance that Japan will seize the islands by force. This is of course 2006, not 1941.

The current flare up is over a research vessel that is going to be traveling in waters near Dokto:

Korea has vowed to stop a plan by Japanese maritime authorities to dispatch a research vessel into Korea’s exclusive economic zone near Dokdo for a hydrographical survey. Korea has not been informed of a move some say is a deliberate ploy to heighten tensions in the sensitive area………………………….

The government has called in Japanese Ambassador Shotaro Oshima to register a strong protest. “Trespassing into our EEZ without permission is an act of unannounced incursion,” Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan was quoted as telling the envoy. “If Japan follows through with these plans, we will do everything in our power to stop you.” The ambassador responded the area Tokyo intends to survey falls within Japan?s EEZ. However, this would only be the case if the Dokdo islets were Japanese territory, in which case the line between Ulleung Island and Dokdo would mark the limit of both countries? EEZ.

I wonder if the Korean military contingent on Dokto are practicing recall and battle drills to prepare for this invasion of hostile scientists? These scientists could just be a cover though for this contingent of Japanese SDF Marines that were trained in amphibious operations by the US Marine Corps. If these scientists do land on Dokto the soldiers can call up for reinforcements with their cellphones and they could always sic these dogs on them as well.

Dokto Forever!

Well, not really, but do yourself a favor and read Jeff’s post on what these guys have been up to:

Jeff has by far the best post on the Dokto Riders yet. For being from the elite Korean colleges these guys sure can’t spell, but I’m sure they are smart enough to sell a Dokto Riders memoir book in Korea in the future. It will probably feature more poor English as well just like the above sign, but all the Dokto crazy ajumas out there are sure to buy it. Heck they could pull out their motorcycles again and drive around Korea promoting the book. Or better yet they can get their publisher to pay to have them drive around the world again to promote the book.

Well not really by storm but they were in San Francisco and in accordance with Marmot’s guidance make sure you read Jeff’s take on the Dokto Riders in San Francisco.

I have to agree with Jeff that the Dokto Riders should get some props for playing to Korean nationalism in order to finance their 9 month around the world vacation. Look at how much money they got for this road trip:

Funding comes from $20,000 they earned at part-time jobs, $50,000 from the GS Caltex energy corporation, $20,000 from KIUP Bank, and a $10,000 pledge from the Korean Government Information Agency, which also is supplying postcards and maps to distribute, Kim said.

I wonder if there are any Daemado Riders in the works now?

Korean residents return to Dokto Islets:

Two of the three Koreans who are registered residents of Dokdo islet, Kim Seong-do and Kim Shin-yeol, moved back home yesterday after 10 years. The couple left the islet in 1996 after their house collapsed in a storm. Dokdo is claimed by both Japan and Korea. The Maritime Ministry has repaired the couple’s home, and private groups raised funds to buy a new fishing boat for them.

Although the Japanese government has made no efforts to regain the island except for occasional assertions of its sovereignty and suggestions to take the matter to international arbitration, Koreans have been riled by incidents such as last year’s designation of Feb. 22 by Shimane prefecture as “Takeshima Day,” the island’s Japanese name. The timing of the announcement of the couple’s return to the islet was probably no coincidence.

I love that last line “probably no coincidence”. Yeah, I would have to say so. However, I don’t how these people can like living on Dokto. These two rocks are small and far from anything. I’m willing to bet the residents won’t be living there indefinitely.

For more on Dokto the Party Pooper’s February Dokto Post is a must read.

Here is another Dokto related story for all you Dokto watchers out there, you know who you are. These two isolated and desolate rocks in the middle of the East Sea (Sea of Japan) has caused so much debate, hatred, and comedy between Japan and Korea that I just feel obligated to record this silliness for future generations to marvel at.

The latest silliness to come out of the Dokto issue I saw on Occidentalism’s site is the release of official “I Love Dokto” underwear:

This underwear should sell like hotcakes to all the people that bought these T-shirts:

If you haven’t had enough Dokto you can now even buy a Japanese language calendar featuring Dokto:

I wonder if the fact that Japan is fielding spy planes will be twisted to mean that this is another provactive measure by the Japanese military to invade Dokdo? Rest easy Dokdo watchers, the spy planes are to be used to spy on North Korean ballistic missiles instead:

Japan will soon decide which long-endurance unmanned spy plane it plans to deploy in fiscal 2007, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga said Wednesday in London.
Nukaga said he expects the spy drones to allow his agency to gather ballistic missile launch information quickly. The move will bolster Japan’s reconnaissance capabilities to monitor North Korea and other potential threats.

Japan has plans to domestically develop spy planes but the agency will first import them from the United States, Japan’s closest ally, with which it has been engaged in a joint missile defense project since North Korea launched a missile that flew over Japan into the Pacific in 1998.

It will be interesting to see how the Chinese are going to respond to this development.

I wonder if the fact the US Marines are training Japanese soldiers in amphibious warfare tactics will be twisted to mean that the US is training the Japanese military to attack Dokto?:

Japanese soldiers left for the United States on Tuesday to conduct training with the US Marines simulating the recapture of an island from enemies, an official said. It will be the first joint war game between the allies premised on an invasion of an isolated island off Japan, an official of Japan’s Defense Agency said on customary condition of anonymity.

About 125 troops from Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in California will hold month long exercises at Camp Pendleton, Calif., according to the defense official. In the scenario, soldiers will infiltrate a captured island by boat and retake it after exchanging fire with the enemy, the official said, though no live ammunition will be used during the exercise.

The Japanese media is reporting that the exercise is in preparation of a Chinese attack on the remote southern Japanese islands:

Local media reports have said the joint exercise is aimed at showing a military “presence” in small southwestern Japanese islands off Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu in view of China’s military expansion in recent years. The official said he could not comment on those reports.

Rest easy Koreans, I don’t think there is an invasion fleet in the world that can defeat the Army of drunk ajummas that visit that island.

Hat Tip: Coming Anarchy

Occidentalism is reporting that Korean tourists spray painted Dokto graffiti on a cultural landmark the John Lennon Wall in Prague. Apparently some Czech citizens are upset about the graffiti and spray painted over the Korean flag the Czech word for cowards.

I think it is kind of childish to spray paint graffiti like this in a prominent location in a foreign country because the Dokto issue is a regional political issue between Korea and Japan that has nothing to do with the Czech Republic. It would similarly be childish of me if I went to Cheongyecheon Stream in Seoul and painted one of the walls there with graffiti against illegal Mexican immigration into America. This issue has absolutely nothing to do with Korea because it is a regional political issue between the US and Mexico. It is the same thing with the Dokto controversy. It is one thing to fill a subway station in Korea with anti-Japanese pictures drawn by school children; but quite another to do something similar to this in a foreign country.

I tend to agree with Curzon’s comment on the whole Dokto controversy:

Korea occupied the rocks; Japan disputes their ownership. Russia occupies southern Sakhalin and the Kurils; Japan disputes their ownership. Somehow, the stoic and steely nature of the Russian personality to resist worldwide lobbying, cutting off pinkies, and making themselves look absurd in the eyes of the world. How ever do they contain themselves?

I feel that Korea does have the strongest case for ownership of Dokto; plus they physically occupy the islets. Short of war nothing is going to move Korea off those two rocks and Japan is not going to start a war over Dokto and both governments know this. Yet Dokto remains a great source for Korean governmental leaders in political trouble at home, to stoke Korean nationalism in order to skew their own short comings. The same phenomenon but on a much smaller scale is why the Japanese government doesn’t let the Takeshima issue fade either because politicians in power want to appease the Japanese fishing industry. In the end it is a wash and both governments look as stupid as this graffiti in Prague.

The Korean Eco-Nazis are trying to evict two dogs from the disputed Dokto Islets:

But now, the “guardian dogs’’ of the islets _ Komi and Mongi _ are likely to be expelled as the Cultural Heritage Administration has officially requested that the island police remove the animal.

The administration has said that the five-year-old dogs are damaging the eco system of Dokdo by killing fork-tailed petrels and black-tailed gulls.

The administration discovered that the dogs have also eaten the birds’ eggs. The black-tailed gulls are designated by the government as a precious natural treasure.

I find this so stupid because there is no way those two dogs can eat all the birds on Dokto. I have been to Dokto myself and I can confirm that is going to take a heck of a lot more than two dogs to eat all the birds on those two rocks. The amount of birds that nest on Dokto was one of the first things I noticed about the place. There is definitely an impressive amount of birds that live there.

I got to give the Coast Guard credit they are not giving up the two dogs without a fight:

Despite the decision by the cultural institution, police do not have an immediate plan for the dogs’ removal.

Instead, they will ask members of the coast guard to set up stricter guidelines concerning the animal.

“They are the guardian dogs of the coast guard and part of their family. They were born on the island and were raised there, too. We will keep the dogs with us,’’ said an official at the police agency, on condition of anonymity.

“The dogs have been our friends and they are loved by tourists as well,’’ Seo Jung-pyo, a head of the coast guards, said on the phone.

Give these coast guard kids a break out there. Dokto has got to be a horribly boring assignment at least let these guys keep their two dogs.

Plus I always got to roll my eyes when I hear Korean environmentalists talk about protecting the environment here in Korea. Something that just constantly frustrates me during my travels, is all the litter left by picnickers and hikers along the Korean streams and mountain trails. I still have never read anything from Korean environmentalists condemning this, yet they go after these two dogs.

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Check out the GI Korea Dokto Photo Album for some great pictures from these infamous islets.

I just knew some how Dokto would come up during Liberation Day. I just didn’t expect it to be celebrated in this way:

Korean telecommunications companies’ plan to set up a base station for mobile phones on Dokdo island this month to mark the 60th anniversary of liberation from Japanese rule has been delayed, SK Telecom and KTF said yesterday.

Celebrating Liberation Day by putting up a cell phone tower on Dokto. Only in Korea.