South Korean PM Attacks Japan, Vows To Secure Dokdo/Takeshima

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]AFP: SKorean PM accuses Japan of damaging ties
South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo on Sunday accused Japan of damaging bilateral ties and putting regional peace at risk with its renewed claim to a group of Seoul-controlled islets. Han, meeting with ruling party lawmakers, rejected Tokyo's new education guidelines calling for "a deeper understanding" of Japan's claims to the islets -- called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea -- lying midway between them. "This is not only damaging the amicable South Korea-Japan relationship... but also undermining peace in Northeast Asia by letting the future generations repeat the distorted history," Han said. In protest, South Korea last week recalled its ambassador to Japan and rejected Japan's proposal for foreign ministerial talks on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Singapore this coming week. Angry South Koreans have almost daily held protest rallies at the heavily-guarded Japanese embassy in Seoul, with some last week beheading live pheasants, Japan's national bird. In the southern city of Busan, an association of civic groups launched a campaign to boycott Japanese cars. The Seoul metro has withdrawn a series of adverts promoting Japanese condoms..."Dokdo belongs to Korea historically, geographically and in terms of international laws," Han said reiterating Seoul's position. "There is no question about our sovereign rights to Dokdo because we effectively control it." Han said Seoul would work out a long-term strategic plan to "further strengthen the effective control" of the islets, calling for bipartisan support from parliament in handling the issue.

[Mulboyne]

Xinhua: S Korea expresses regret over Japanese celebration of disputed islets

The South Korean government on Sunday expressed regret that Japanese Shimane Prefecture held celebration of disputed islets. "The (South Korean) government expresses deep regrets that Japan's Shimane Prefecture had an event to mark the 'Dokdo Day' despite our repeated request (not to do so)," foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said in a statement. "The government urges it to rescind the anniversary immediately and stop its claim to the sovereignty over Dokdo," the statement said. "The government will cope sternly with any attempts to violate our territorial sovereignty over Dokdo," the spokesman said.

[pheyton]

Ya know, they should make the islands a neutral peace zone between the two countries to show goodwill toward one another. Both having rights and access and any and all mineral/oil/gas deposits would be split equally between the two countries. Fuck I should be the UN secretary.

[Mike Oxlong]

[SIZE="5"]More Maps Weaken Japan's Claim to Dokdo[/SIZE]

Yet another couple of historic Japanese maps have been discovered that do not include Korea's Dokdo islets as part of Japanese territory. Yuji Hosaka, a Japanese professor at Sejong University, unveiled them at a press conference at the Northeast Asian History Foundation on Wednesday.

Measuring 115 cm by 123 cm, one map was produced by the Japanese Army in 1877 and depicts the country's sovereign territory in detail, but does not contain Dokdo. In 1889, Japanese surveyors created the country's first-ever map on a 200,000:1 scale compiled from all of the maps that had been produced until that time, but even that makes no reference to Dokdo, Hosaka said.

Park Jin-hyun, head of the foundations' Dokdo Research Institute said, "This shows Japan's claim that Dokdo was Japanese territory prior to 1905 is false." Japan declared Korea a protectorate that year...

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/02/18/2010021800465.html

[Iraira]

Can't we just get the Russians or the US to use the islands as major kilo-tonnage ordinance target practice? Move the 2-43 people who hang out and "administer" the rocks back home, and just decimate the damn rock garden. Then, no one can claim rights to nothing, done deal, story's over, and we can all go home, take a shower, jerk off, and eat fudge brownies.

[Christoff]

This one is for the wife.

Dokdo wori tang!!! and keep you filthy dolphin killing hands off our bird shit infested rock.

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[Samurai_Jerk]

Well, maybe in a few more years ...


Disputed isle in Bay of Bengal disappears into sea

NEW DELHI – For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them: the island's gone.

New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said.

"What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming," said Hazra.

Scientists at the School of Oceanographic Studies at the university have noted an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past decade in the Bay of Bengal.

Until 2000, the sea levels rose about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) a year, but over the last decade they have been rising about 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) annually, he said ...

[TennoChinko]

It seems that Koreans - both the South and North - have a bottomless bucket of "grievances" with Japan each time they are looking for money, concessions, attention or ways to divert the public from domestic issues.

Although one is supposed to take them seriously, it's very much like the local neighborhood spastic. Instead of laughing at him, you try to maintain a civil conversation lest you be accused of discriminating against the mentally handicapped.

[Christoff]

dokdo wu ri tan, wu ri tan!

[Tsuru]

SK navy frigate sinking near NK, "possibly due to a torpedo attack"

[bolt_krank]

It's mine ! Mine !

I don't see them finishing this any time in the next 50 years. The want the fishing around it, and neither country wants to look "defeated".

But the way I see it, both countries are already losers when it comes to this.

[dimwit]

Although one is supposed to take them seriously, it's very much like the local neighborhood spastic. Instead of laughing at him, you try to maintain a civil conversation lest you be accused of discriminating against the mentally handicapped.

Very apt metaphor.