The UPI reports:

Lee and Fukuda pledge pragmatic approach

By HIROYUKI KOSHOJI
UPI Correspondent

TOKYO, Japan,  The leaders of Japan and South Korea have launched what both sides hope will be an era of greater cooperation between them. During their Monday summit in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed to take a future-oriented and pragmatic approach to their relationship, which has sometimes been strained over issues related to Japan’s former rule over Korea.

Although the summit and subsequent joint press conference were conducted in a friendly atmosphere from start to finish, full-scale negotiations on an economic partnership agreement were nowhere in sight. Concerns over historical issues and a territorial dispute were also brushed aside.

“I want to develop a new era in Japan-South Korea relations by upgrading ties to a more mature partnership,” said Fukuda at the joint news conference after the summit.

Lee arrived in Japan on Sunday, the first visit by a South Korean president since Roh Moo-hyun visited in December 2004. This was also the first step toward resumption of a former “shuttle diplomacy” program involving two summits a year, which was suspended under the Roh administration.

Both sides are eager to put the past behind. Lee has said he will not seek further apologies or expressions of remorse from Japan over its 40-year rule over Korea.

“We of course cannot forget the past history but should not make it an obstacle for our future,” Lee said. “We need not react irritably every time to Japanese lawmakers’ remarks. Any politician in any country can express their personal ideas.”

Many Japanese appreciated Lee’s attitude. “No South Korean president has made such an in-depth remark except Lee. If he can put his words into practice during his term of office, the problem of historical perception would not come to the fore again,” said Hajime Izumi, professor of international relations and Korean studies at the University of Shizuoka.

“From Japan’s side, it was a commendable remark. But if he cannot live up to his belief, it will be difficult for Japan and South Korea to establish future-oriented pragmatic relations in the true sense of the term,” Izumi said.

Lee’s predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, also emphasized future-oriented relations at the beginning of his presidency and expectations were high that he would build closer ties with Japan. However, in March 2005, lawmakers in Shimane, the Japanese prefecture closest to a disputed island chain known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, passed an ordinance creating a “Takeshima Day.” The move unleashed a storm of protest in South Korea and Roh’s administration took a tough line against Japan.

Former President Kim Dae-jung, who regarded himself as pro-Japan, also said at the beginning of his term in office that he would not take up issues of past history. But when the issue of history textbooks arose and escalated to a diplomatic row in 2001, Kim called on Japan to revise its descriptions of its wartime atrocities in Asia.

Based on these past experiences, some Japanese media and experts remain unconvinced that Lee will be any different. Some say Lee might turn to a tough line on Japan if he fails to achieve the desired effects with his economic policies. Masao Okonogi, a professor at Keio University in Tokyo, denies this viewpoint, however.

“The idea of taking a tough line against Japan to keep the present administration in power comes from past South Korean presidents’ actions, but it will not be applicable to Lee,” said Okonogi, who is an expert on Korean affairs. “It highly depends on the Japanese prime minister’s behavior,” he said.

The two leaders’ positions over the Japan-South Korea EPA negotiations, suspended since November 2004, were marked by a difference. The two nations agreed to meet in June to discuss ways to restart the negotiations, but it still remains uncertain when full-scale negotiations will start.

“We can say that Lee has improved relations with Japan, which had worsened under the Roh administration, but we need something new to upgrade relations, as Fukuda mentioned in the press conference,” Izumi pointed out.

“A free trade agreement or an EPA could be symbols of something new, but the summit talks showed the difference in temperature over the issue,” he said. While Japan wants to speed up negotiations to conclude an EPA, South Korea places priority on economic cooperation on its industrial parts industry.

“If we continue the FTA talks without addressing the areas of disparity, we are concerned that the gap may become even more significant,” Lee said.

South Korea’s trade deficit with Japan is about US$30 billion. The country builds products with parts imported from Japan because its small and medium-sized enterprises are still weak. So South Korea is concerned that the more products it exports, the more its trade deficit with Japan will balloon.

At first, Lee wanted to redress this trade imbalance through foreign investment from Japan, but South Korea sees that Japan’s easing of regulations on foreign investment may not go far enough.

“I think we should consider starting FTA negotiations for the benefit of both countries, but we need to succeed in cooperation on the parts industry to eliminate the trade deficit. That would be the first step toward conclusion of an FTA,” Lee said.

In 2003, the Japan-South Korea EPA negotiations started based on an agreement at summit talks between the two countries the same year. Initially, both called the agreement centering on the abolition of tariffs an FTA, but later Japan start using the term EPA. An EPA is a comprehensive pact that not only features an FTA to cut tariffs but also covers trade in services and investments.

The negotiations have been suspended since November 2004, as Seoul did not accept Japan’s offer of concessions on tariffs on farm and marine products. South Korea also hesitated to accept a potentially massive influx of Japanese cars and other manufactured goods that could damage its domestic industries.

“The negotiations on an EPA would be more political. Once both countries resume this, they have to conclude it. So, they need a commitment to conclude it if they resume it,” Okonogi pointed out. “It will not be easy,” he predicted.

April 23, 2008

The Chosun Ilbo reports:

 Japan Claims Dokdo in Foreign Ministry Document

A document on the website of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, reportedly posted earlier this year, claims that the Dokdo Islets, or Takeshima in Japanese, belong to Japan.

The controversial document, entitled “10 Issues of Takeshima”, is available in English, Korean and Japanese in a section called “The Issue of Takeshima” on the ministry’s official website (http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/ area/takeshima).

Dated February 2008, the document claims that Takeshima is “clearly” Japanese territory from the standpoint of both history and international law. It says South Korea is illegally occupying the islands, against which Japan has been consistently protesting.

The document outlines 10 reasons why the islands belong to Japan. It claims that Japan used the islands as a fishing base and anchorage en route to Ulleung Island and thus “established its sovereignty over Takeshima by the mid 17th century at the very latest.”

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said it posted the document to its website in February, but that it has been operating the web page publicizing Takeshima as Japanese territory for some time.

A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said, “We issued a protest immediately after the Japanese Foreign Ministry posted the controversial document to its web page. Japan has not yet taken any action to correct or revise it.”

The South Korean Foreign Ministry issued another protest recently and held a meeting presided over by a vice minister to discuss measures. But some officials, both within and outside of the Foreign Ministry, accused the ministry of taking a passive and lukewarm stance on the issue. They found fault with the ministry’s failure to aggressively address the issue, which became known in February, and reveal it to the public earlier.

Apr.10,2008

The Yomiuri Shinbun reports:

Detailed map of Takeshima Completed

The governmental Geographical Survey Institute has compiled the first 1:25,000-scale topographical map of the Takeshima islets–known as Dokdo in South Korea, which currently controls the disputed territory, it has been learned.

The 1:25,000-scale maps that the institute draws are base maps for every other map compiled by public and private bodies in the nation. With the new map of the islets, the whole territory of Japan, except for the northern territories, has been mapped.

The islets in Okinoshimacho, Shimane Prefecture, which both Japan and South Korea claim sovereignty over, currently are controlled by South Korea, which dispatched police to guard the islands.

Under such circumstances, the institute was unable to take aerial photographs or conduct field studies, necessary activities for compiling a basic map.

As a result, the institute was able to create a map with a scale of 1:200,000 based on low-precision satellite image data.

The institute initially planned to create a map using information obtained only by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite, nicknamed Daichi, which was developed with the primary purpose of compiling a basic map of the world.

However, large errors were found in data regarding the altitude of contours sent by the satellite, and the institute therefore decided to use data obtained by U.S. commercial satellites.

The new map, for the first time, indicates the height of the highest points on Nishijima island and Higashijima island, which comprise the islets, as 168 meters and 97 meters, respectively.

The map also shows detailed land features of the islets, such as jagged coastlines, contours and steep, rocky slopes.

Facilities set up on the islets by South Korea are not indicated on the new map as they are regarded as illegally constructed buildings.

The GSI map was made to update the previous map of the area after four municipalities on Okinoshima island in the prefecture merged to become Okinoshimacho in 2004. That map went on sale in December.

In creating the 2004 map, the names of Otokojima island and Onnajima island were changed to Nishijima island and Higashijima island, respectively.

Korea.net reports:

 Web site on rocky islets gets facelift

The province of Gyeongsangbuk-do has given a facelift to its Web site promoting the Korean Peninsula’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.

“Cyber Dokdo,” which has featured the islets’ geographic, social and tourist data since 2001, has added more visual resources, including photos and video clips, and information in English, Chinese and Japanese.

A new menu aims to provide Korean children with customized and easier-to-understand information on the islets.

The foreign-language service details the history and ecology of and references to Dokdo. The reference menu includes 356 photos, 22 video clips and 236 artworks related to the rocky islets.

Dokdo is situated 87.4 kilometers (47.2 miles) southeast of the island Ulleung-do and 216.8 kilometers east of Jukbeon on the east coast. On a clear day, Dokdo is visible from Ulleungdo.

The closest Japanese island, Oki, is 157.5 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of Dokdo.

The two main islets of Dokdo are 151 meters apart. Dongdo (East Island) is 98.6 meters high and Seodo (West Island) 168.5 meters high.

(January 18, 2008)

Chosun Ilbo Reports:
Google Under Fire for Flawed Korea Maps

Controversy has flared up as Google Earth, a satellite-image mapping service by Google, the world’s largest search engine, has erroneously described several South Korean locations. The controversial areas include Ongjin County under the jurisdiction of the city of Incheon, and some islands in Ongjin County such as Baegryeong-do, Daecheong-do, and Socheong-do. While close to North Korea, all of these locations are in South Korea. Yet all of them are described in detail by Google Earth as belonging to North Korea. Even Yeonpyeong-do, in whose adjacent waters the 1999 West Sea battle was waged, is described as belonging to the North.

This is not the first time Google has mislabeled Korean geography. Google once incurred public protest by referring to the East Sea as the “Sea of Japan” and the Dokdo Islets as “Takeshima.”

In September last year, Google Earth caused a stir with a notice that referred to Seoul as “Korea under Japanese rule.” According to a study in June last year, Google Earth had a total of 133 erroneous designations for Korean geographical locations.

Google Earth currently refers to the Dokdo Islets as “Liancourt Rocks” with a note that South Korea calls them “Dokdo” but Japan calls them “Takeshima.”

A Google official said it would take some time to update the maps, as the company needs the South Korean government’s permission to send a Korean map produced by the South Korean government itself to Google’s main office.

(January 23, 2008)

Yonhap Reports:

S. Koreans take to polls on eastern islets of Dokdo

About 100 South Koreans cast ballots for their next president on Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo Thursday in a symbolic vote to demonstrate Korea’s sovereignty over the islets also claimed by Japan. Residents and police on the cluster of rocky islets, lying about midway between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, went to the polls as the two-day absentee voting session kicked off nationwide. It was the first-ever presidential vote to take place on Dokdo off Korea’s east coast. “My wish is that our next president will be someone who can protect Dokdo from Japanese territorial ambitions and make it known to the world that Dokdo is Korean territory,” Kim Seong-do, 66, a resident of the islets, said. The government escorted Kim and his wife by helicopter from the nearby island of Ulleung, where they were staying during the harsh winter. Absentee voting started earlier in the day. About 810,000 people, about 2 percent of the entire voting population, have registered to cast ballots during the two-day period. Dokdo has long been the target of Japan’s territorial claims. South Korea has stationed a police contingent on the islets since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War to symbolize its ownership. The Kims resides there during the fishing season.

(December 13, 2007)

Yonhap reports:

South Korea demands Japan revise defense white paper on Dokdo

South Korea Friday demanded Japan revise its defense white paper that includes a set of rocky South Korean islets in the East Sea as its territory. Dokdo has long been the target of Japan’s territorial claims. South Korea has stationed a police contingent on the islets since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War to symbolize its ownership. A married couple now resides there during the fishing season. “We repeatedly urge the Japanese government to acknowledge that its sovereignty claim over Dokdo is a behavior that hampers the future-oriented development of South Korea-Japan relations by trying to justify its colonial past,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry summoned the military attache at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and lodged a strong complaint against the issuance Friday of this year’s edition of the white paper. “Japan approved the 2007 defense white paper that described Tokdo as part of its territory in a cabinet meeting this morning and made public the book,” the statement said. The annual Japanese defense white paper has defined Dokdo as part of Japanese territory since 2005 and said that the sovereignty issue has yet to be resolved. “Japan carried the same description (of the Dokdo islets) in this year’s edition despite grave protests and demands by our government for (their) deletion (from the white paper),” the statement said. Many South Koreans as well as their northern brethren still have bitter memories of the cruel Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

(July 07, 2007)

Yonhap reports:

Police head to visit Dokdo

The nation’s top police officer will visit South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo Wednesday amid frequent claims of sovereignty over the islets by Japan, a police spokesman said.

Lee Taek-soon, head of the National Police Agency, will inspect the security of the islets and lay flowers on a memorial to pay tribute to the fallen police officers there, the spokesman said. Dokdo has long been the target of Japan’s territorial claims. Since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, South Korea has stationed a police contingent on the islets. A married couple now reside there during the fishing season. Lee will also pay a visit on Thursday to police forces stationed in nearby Ulleung Island.

(March 14, 2007)

Yonhap News reports:

S. Korea, Japan to resume talks to draw EEZ boundaries

SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Yonhap) — South Korea and Japan will discuss the boundary of their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) waters in the East Sea next week, resuming talks for the first time in five months, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

The two neighbors have been at odds over drawing a clear line for their EEZ, as Japan has laid claim to South Korea’s easternmost islet between the neighbors, Dokdo.

“For this upcoming meeting, we hope to build an atmosphere to change the EEZ in a fair manner and eventually contribute to peace in the Northeast Asia,” Im Han-taek, director on international treaties at the Foreign Ministry, said in a media briefing.

Im will represent South Korea at the talks.

The seventh round of the EEZ talks will take place in Tokyo on Monday. The last round, held in September, failed to produce an agreement.

In the last round, Seoul pressed for the line to be drawn east of Dokdo, while Tokyo wanted the boundary to be set in waters between South Korea’s Ulleung Island and Dokdo, which it claims to be Japanese territory.

Dokdo is 92 kilometers east of South Korea’s Ulleung Island, and 160 km west of Japan’s Oki Island.

February 28, 2007

The Korea Times reports:

Jointly Written History Book by Korean, Japanese Scholars to Hit Shelves

By Jane Han
Staff Reporter

Thirty-six scholars, ten years of heated debate, and about two dozen trips between Japan and Korea, gave birth to this most recent history textbook jointly written by the two countries at odds over many historical perspectives.

“This book is intended to serve as an objective history-teller for the youth in both countries,’’ said University of Seoul Professor Chung Jae-jeong, who initiated the meticulous 10-year project with almost 40 history experts from University of Seoul and Tokyo Gakugei University.

The book, “History of Korea-Japan Exchanges from Prehistory to Modern Times,’’ is hot off the press to be released in local bookstores on March 2.

“Objectivity was of foremost importance and we focused on it throughout the whole process,’’ said Chung in a Korea Times interview, adding that while there are previously co-written books, the new release covers sensitive time periods, including the Japanese civilization period during modern times.

It is also the first in which the writing process was done together from cover to cover _ through debate and agreement _ rather than dividing sections to be written individually.

Beginning in 1997, Chung persuaded his fellow professors to actively work on narrowing the gap of historical understanding between Japan and Korea.

“Writing this book was an ideal way, but it was tough to have others agree with me because of preconceptions and stereotypes,’’ recalled the professor.

Because there was a general public consensus disliking “anything Japan,’’ working on such a cooperative project with Japanese scholars was an easy way to be called pro-Japan and shunned by many, said Chung.

Words weren’t enough to get the needed support, so those hesitant were also brought to Japan to interact with the people there and build trust.

“Even after the project kicked off, there were still some rough edges where both sides weren’t comfortable with each other,’’ he said. However, with constant interaction, friendship was forged and a deeper knowledge about one another was gained.

Two symposiums were held each year _ usually during vacation period _ where scholars from one side would visit the other taking turns. Discussions and presentations took place at the biannual event and when the participants returned home, more writing was done to work towards completing the book.

“Writing wasn’t the end of the process because we would have to translate the text from Japanese to Korean and vice versa, and review each other’s work as well _ the process was very detailed and tough with efforts of many,’’ explained Chung.

This carefully written book discusses the exchanges between Korea and Japan from the pre-modern period through the 21st century.

“It deals with the Japanese invasion of Korea, acknowledging that Japan began the aggression and suffered human casualties as well,’’ the Korean history professor said. “Also mentioned is Queen Min’s assassination by the Japanese and the abuse of Korean women as sex slaves for Japanese Soldiers.’’

All accounts were written from an objective perspective only based on historically valid documents.

While some controversial matters were discussed, some, including the territorial dispute over Dokdo Island and the clash over the naming of the body of water between Japan and Korea, were excluded.

“Territorial issues are something that can’t be compromised, but for scholars, who are far from actual decision-making, it’s easier to discuss from a neutral point of view,’’ said Chung. He said, however, Japanese counterparts did not make a fuss out of the issue, so there was no reason for them to make an issue when Korea is occupying the piece of land at the moment.

“The same applies for whether calling the water between the two lands “East Sea’’ or “Sea of Japan.’’ It’s an ongoing dispute and because what we wrote is not a geography book, there was no need to mention the name,’’ he said, hinting that there were still intense debates over the situation among scholars of both sides.

“It’s a 10-year-period, so of course there were times we fought in a scholarly way, but we always wrapped up on a friendly note,’’ he said.

Chung expressed hopes to put out a follow-up book of detailed historical documents for educators to assist their teaching with the new book.

He also stressed the need for elementary, middle and high school educators to be properly educated on Korean-Japanese history in an unbiased way in the context of world history.

“A lot of times Koreans ignore world history and focus only on Korean history, which can lead to unhealthy nationalism,’’ said the 57-year-old history expert. “We need to have a more open-mind to see the bigger picture.’’

With the book already out on shelves in Japan, enthusiastic public attention is growing and Chung has been making front page on local newspapers.

“I think there is a difference between the two countries. No matter how good a book that is written and published, if no one reads it, what good is it?’’ said Chung, regretting that Koreans haven’t give much support for the project.

Chung, who lived in Tokyo for four years during his doctorate studies, said Japan 30-years-ago, and current day Japan are like hot and cold.

“Back then in the ‘80s, the ordinary Japanese citizen didn’t even know that Japan invaded Korea. They considered Korea a country dominated by a military regime and violent demonstration,’’ he said, commenting that today’s “hallyu’’ in Japan is an amazing progress.

The published author and professor said Korea’s historical awareness should match the country’s economic, political and cultural development.

“The rooted chauvinism in our society can be dangerous,’’ he said. “Before being members of Korean society, we’re also members of the world, making us responsible to learn the true history.’’

February 25, 2007