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武島 (Takeshima) is a group of disputed islets situated between Japan and South Korea. The South Korean government claims this patch of land is sovereign territory and refers to it as Dokdo. Japan, on the other hand, steadfastly sticks to the position that the island group is an integral part of the country’s territory historically as well as according to international law. This has been the case for over half a century, and will likely continue to be the story for the same length of time.
But who is the rightful nation to this semi-appealing group of rocks sitting exposed in the middle of the Sea of Japan?
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But who is the rightful nation to this semi-appealing group of rocks sitting exposed in the middle of the Sea of Japan?
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Sometimes inanimate objects are...You have to be careful about tainted rice Jordan....
Sometimes inanimate objects are...You have to be careful about tainted rice Jordan....
Comments
Good overview of the issue.
I really have no opinion either way. I do wish however that both sides (and their respective rabid ultranationalists) could calm down the rhetoric and start co-operating. Great post.
Thanks for the compliments. I tried to offer a historically balanced view of the situation, and it sounds like it worked
Sea of Japan? You mean, the East Sea? This is all so silly. Really, who cares about these miserable, uninhabited rocks? Here's a thought - jointly administer the islands as a bi-national nature reserve and give them a new, neutral name. That could work for the Northern Territories as well.
A bi-national nature reserve? If only the Japanese and Korean governments would put their appetites aside for such a thing! The Takeshima islets are home to an abundant source of fish. He (or she) who controls the islets, controls the fishing rights. For this reason, the South Koreans have had a make-shift military compound on the largest of the islets and have the area patrolled by military vessels.
The same is said about the island chains north of Hokkaido. The region is rich with both fish and natural gas reserves.
Governments rarely walk away from resources ... regardless of how much or how little it might cost them in the long run -_-
So this land is actually Japanese land. The Koreans just decided that it was part of their nation. Well, why don`t the Japanese just state that any military not allowed by the government of Japan to be on their soil are subject to arrest and trail in a Japanese court.
The country was in no condition (politically or militarily) to do that until the late 1980's. By then, the Japanese government had already morphed into the rag-tag collection of self-serving jackasses that we see today, with the few effective politicians too busy doing their assigned jobs to pay much attention to a little known islet dispute.
The best time to strike South Korea would have been during this time. However, as with many things, the government was inactive on the issue for too long and South Korea became an economic superpower in the region. Now, due to the political situations and loose alliances in the Pacific region, Japan has no leverage on the situation.
The only way Japan could get these rocks back from South Korea would be to cause a scene at the UN or put pressure on Koreas other allies regarding the legally determined sovereignty of Takeshima. That said, because it was the U.S. that determined the fate of the islets in 1951, and it was the U.S. that split Korea at the 49th parallel, and the U.S. has a depreciated image in world affairs, it will probably be impossible to have any nation act as a 3rd party to resolve the dispute. Both Korea and Japan have what, according to our messed up and poorly observed international legal system, a valid claim to the land.
Hopefully Global Warming will continue, drowning these tiny regions of land under 10 meters of water. That might just settle the issue for a while :/