• +254-733-602740
  • info@thebordersinstitute.org
  • PO Box 13385-00100, Nairobi Kenya
Logo
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
    • How we work
    • Our Structure
    • Our Programmes
  • Borderpedia
  • Contact Us
Logo The Borders Institute (TBI) working for peaceful and prosperous African borders.
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
    • How we work
    • Our Structure
    • Our Programmes
  • Borderpedia
  • Contact Us

Japan-South Korea 300 years dispute over Dodko Islands

Japan-South Korea 300 years dispute over Dodko Islands

  • June 23, 2021
  • Posted by: Author zack
  • Category: Article
  • Leave a comment

Many South Koreans consider a trip to the Dodko Islands a civic duty.

Photographs by Tim Franco
ByAlexandra Genova
Published November 14, 2018

The Dokdo Islands are the center of a diplomatic dispute between South Korea and Japan that goes back more than 300 years.

Kim Sung-do is the only offical resident. At 79 years old, he struggles to continue to fish. He came to the Dokdo rocks to join his former fishing partner, who built the only house of the west island in 1965.

A tourist boat docks for a visit.

Dokdo tourists serenade the landscape with patriotic songs.

Proud tourists wave the South Korean flag during a photo-op.

A cable car carries food and other supplies from the east island closer to the military base, which cannot be photographed for security reasons.

The west island is inhabitable because of the steep, vertical rocks.

The senior inspector looks across the west island.

Women happily pose on the dock of the east island.

Most South Korean tourists who come to the island consider the trip as a civic duty. To them, the rocks symbolize victory over the occupation of Japan.

An armed security officer waves goodbye to the tourists.

A South Korean flag is raised on the eastern part of the east island, facing Japan. South Korean squid-fishing vessels light the horizon.

The Dokdo Islands are the center of a diplomatic dispute between South Korea and Japan that goes back more than 300 years./Photograph by Tim Franco
Though the Dokdo—meaning ‘Solitary Island’ in Korean—are not an obvious tourist destination (the journey from the Korean peninsula involves two three-hour boat trips and most of the island is inaccessible) enthusiastic Korean patriots visit the rocks in droves to exercise what they see as a civic duty. They wave flags, take selfies, play music, and walk along the promenade, taking in the dramatic coastline that they claim as their own.

“[Koreans] are very protective of their culture and their race—they want to protect whatever they have,” French photographer Tim Franco, who travelled to the islands this summer, tells National Geographic. “Dokdo is a good example of that. This is one thing that they kept back from World War II and it’s very important to them to keep it.” And while Japan also claims to have sovereignty over the rocks, which they call Takeshima (meaning “Bamboo Island”), it is only Koreans who make the pilgrimage, says Franco. [See inside North Korea’s retro soviet planes.]

the Dokdo Islands in the East Sea
Jung Man-Seok put on his best suit for a rare occasions: He will lead the ceremony for the remembrance of the 1948 bombings on a dock of the east island, when fishermen were killed during a U.S bombing exercise on Dokdo.
the Dokdo Islands in the East Sea
A performer rehearses before a ceremony remembering the 1948 bombing of the Dokdo rocks.
Photograph by Tim Franco

Due to erratic sea weather, the rocks can only be visited during the summer months. Weather permitting, tourists can explore the island for an allotted 30 minutes, although the only part open to the public is a small man-made jetty on the east island. “As a Korean, we always wanted to come here once in our lives,” one tourist told Franco. “It means a lot that we finally made it.” Another Korean visitor said they made the journey not only for political reasons but because they “see hope here.”

For Koreans, feelings of hope are also intermingled with deep rooted hostility towards the Japanese neighbors who once occupied their country and who still claim the islets as theirs. Takeshima is “indisputably an inherent part of the territory of Japan, in light of historical facts and based on international law” says the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. It adds that the Republic of Korea has been occupying Takeshima with “no basis in international law,” and that it will continue to seek the settlement “in a calm and peaceful manner”.

The dispute is well-worn. According to South Korea, Dokdo was recognized by Japan as Korean territory in 1696 following an altercation between Japanese and Korean fishermen. But, in 1905, despite allegedly being under formal jurisdiction of Korea’s Uldo county, the islands were annexed by Japan ahead of its occupation of the peninsula, which lasted for 35 years up until 1945. According to Korea, the islands were “rightly” restored to them at the end of World War II. Japan disagrees.

Today, Dokdo propaganda permeates the Korean mainland. “Every time you arrive in South Korea and take the train from the airport to the town, there are videos talking about the Dokdo saying they are the most beautiful islands in the country and that South Korea rightfully owns them,” says Franco. According to The Economist, at a dinner during one of this year’s summits between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, mango mousse was served with a chocolate map of the peninsula flourished with a Dokdo-shaped dot. While the squid and shrimp fished in Dokdo waters are said to be the tastiest in all of Korea. [Read how Korea’s heavily armed border is packed with tourists.]

And on Dokdo itself, Korea continues to stake its claim. On the west island, lives Kim Sung-do, a 79-year-old fisherman who joined his now-deceased fishing partner who moved there in 1965 as the first official resident. Now, Sung-do rarely fishes and is likely to return to the mainland soon to join his sick wife, who now lives there full time. “I think now he’s used more as a propaganda tool,” says Franco. “Every time the tourists come, he’s there on the east island welcoming them. With him gone, South Korea might lose the argument of having a permanent resident on the rocks.”

the Dokdo Islands in the East Sea
The senior inspector looks at the sea from the highest point of the east island. He is in the middle of his 50-day rotation.
the Dokdo Islands in the East Sea
A tourist catches his breath before boarding a boat to leave Dokdo rocks./ Photograph by Tim Franco
On the east island is a Korean military base, where an army chief and 39 young recruits live on rotation. Two years of military service is mandatory in Korea and some choose to do theirs on Dokdo. “It’s easy or hard depending on how you look at it. There’s not much they need to do but there’s not much to do,” says Franco. In the summer, two times a day, the young recruits put their uniform on and go down to welcome the tourists. The rest of the day they only do two things: exercise and play playstation, says Franco.

The bizarreness of tiny island life comes to a crescendo once a year with an annual commemorative parade. On June 8, to remember the Korean fishermen who were killed during a U.S bombing exercise on Dokdo in 1948, statesmen and family members gather in solemn celebration. “It was very ceremonial but very much a PR event,” says Franco, who was there for the 70th anniversary. “The family members were crying even though they had of course never met their ancestors. My fixer, Kathy Yun, saw a journalist asking them to cry one more time for the camera, it was pretty intense.”

the Dokdo Islands in the East Sea
Only the strong lights from fishing vessels light up the night sky.

Photograph by Tim Franco

The deep scars that continue to disfigure East Asian relations are alive in these jagged cliffs and dark waters. But the Liancourt Rocks—the least combative name for the islets, so-called because a French whaling ship almost ran aground there in 1849—are just one of many islands that are being fought over by Japan, Korea, and China. “They are the three most powerful countries in Asia and there is still a lot of hate and bad sentiment from past history that has not been digested,” says Franco. It is rare, however, that such islands are open to the public. For a fee and two long boat rides, curious explorers can see for themselves what inspires patriots yet divides nations.

Source: National Geographic

Share

Leave a comment Cancel Reply

Recent Posts

  • Dismantling Africa, one nation at a time
  • ICJ judgment creates tough decisions for future relations of Kenya and Somalia
  • What Sudan and South Sudan stand to gain by reopening their border
  • Zim to miss AU’s 2023 border mapping deadline
  • African Cross-border informal trade hits $93b yearly

Recent Comments

  • w on ICJ judgment creates tough decisions for future relations of Kenya and Somalia
  • shorten url link free on Concern For Migrants At Europe’s African Land Borders
  • Travel US on Ambazonian, Biafra etc: Does suppressing agitations for separation mean bottling the bomb?
  • SEO on Concern For Migrants At Europe’s African Land Borders
  • ShannonDug on Ethiopia’s controversial mega-dam

The Borders Institute (TBI) is an independent, multinational, non-profit, non-governmental organization, based as a legal entity in Nairobi, Kenya.

Contact Info

  • PO Box 13385-00100,
  • +254-733-602740
  • +254-722-584719
  • info@thebordersinstitute.org
  • Mon — Fri: 8AM — 5PM

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Borderpedia
  • Borders in the News

Information for

  • The Borders Institute
  • Events
The Borders Institute © All Right Reserved By African Web Developers