Dokdo: It's our island

When I first arrived in Korea, I stayed in a hotel next to the airport in Incheon and took the train for about an hour into Seoul for some exploring. Fresh off the plane and excited to get reacquainted with the country I'd be living in for the next year or more, I remember two things from those commutes on the train.  

First, as it was just days before the first outbreak of COVID-19 in South Korea, no one was wearing facemasks. Life was normal. Basically, every day since then, people here have been completely masked, both indoors and outside.

Second, the TV screens on the train repeatedly played, in multiple languages, a propaganda advertisement detailing South Korea's claim to Dokdo, a small series of islands totalling only 187,554 m² off the east coast with a minuscule population of 34 people. The advertisement explained that Dokdo was core to Korea's national identity and had always belonged to Korea. Japan's claim on the island, which they call Takeshima, is without merit, false, and fraudulent the advertisement explained. The advertisement, which caught my eye not only because of the content but also its length, further detailed some historical archives that apparently proved their case that the Japanese had acknowledged Korea's right to the island as far back as the 1600s. Therefore, from the Korean perspective, Dokdo is our island and will never be surrendered.

I don't have an opinion on which country has the legitimate claim, Japan or South Korea. By the way, North Korea claims the island too. I don't have enough information and it's not my place. I just thought it was incredibly interesting that on the train from the airport, visitors are greeted by an anti-Japanese commercial multiple times throughout the trip. The advertisement was played in Korean, English, Chinese, and yes, Japanese. Anti-Japanese sentiment hit me right in the face on my very first day in Korea, within minutes of leaving the airport.

Not often, but a few times since then, my Korean students or friends have told me that they don't like the Japanese. Naturally, this has to do with the tumultuous history dating back hundreds of years, and especially the occupation up to the end of World War 2. More recently, Japan is criticized for failing to make proper amends for the war atrocities, including the issue of forced labour, comfort women, and generally downplaying their actions at that time. This is the Korean perspective. The Japanese generally believe these issues have been addressed but the Koreans continue to move the goalposts.

I noticed a picture of an island hanging in one of the classrooms of my boys' school last year. I asked a student about it. He said it was Dokdo. Clearly, the claim to Dokdo Island is ingrained into the youth of Korea from an early age.

I was reminded of Dokdo Island recently when during a speaking test with a third-grade middle school student who was tasked with recommending a good place to visit in Korea, suggested that I go to Dokdo. Most of the other students recommended typical tourist places in Korea like Seoul, Jeju, and various palaces, traditional villages, and amusement parks. The middle-schooler explained that Dokdo was a Korean Island. He said that Japan says it's their island "but that is a lie." Only he mispronounced "lie" so it sounded more like "lion" but that's besides that point. 

What makes this all the more ridiculous is that there is nothing for a tourist to do on Dokdo Island. It is accessible only by passenger ship, and only during certain periods of the year. Visitors to the island are only allowed to stay for 30 minutes. And according to the Korean Tourism Organization, "There are no restaurants or accommodation facilities in Dokdo, so if you are planning to travel to Dokdo, make sure you get food and accommodations in Ulleungdo." Apparently, the island is in a good fishing spot, though.

In fact, visitors were not permitted on the island because of security and political reasons until 2005. Not coincidently, Japan had made another claim to the island at that time. A prefecture in Japan held a Takeshima (Dokdo) Day including a ceremony, so South Korea opened up the island to Korean visitors from the mainland via Ulleungdo island as a counter to the Japanese "provocation". The island has effectively been controlled by South Korea since 1952 and is regularly patrolled by the Korean Coast Guard. Of course, Korea claims that Dokdo has always been Korean. Japan argues that South Korea is illegally occupying the island.

With the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo fast approaching, the land dispute between South Korea and Japan has once again made news. A map on the Tokyo Olympic Committee website had shown Dokdo Island as part of the Japanese territory. "When South Korea demanded a correction to the map and threatened to boycott the Olympics, the map was adjusted to make Dokdo less visible but was not removed."

Interestingly, the Korean Herald news article goes on to explain that South Korea had made a concession to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when they hosted the Winter Olympics in 2018. They cite two instances where Dokdo Island was removed from Korean maps because of the IOC's guideline on "political neutrality." Naturally, the Koreans feel slighted that they made those concessions when it appears that the Japanese are not doing the same this time around.

The same article mentions a Korean petition to boycott the Olympics because Japan put Dokdo on their map. An extremely angry, anonymous petitioner wrote, "Japan's such actions are nothing more than a declaration of war by using the Olympics to internationally reveal their ambitions for Dokdo." Despite the petition, I haven't heard news from any government sources about a boycott so it's uncertain how much traction it actually has.

As you can see, the emotional attachment to Dokdo is extremely high in South Korea. Again, the purpose of this blog was not to take a side in the island dispute but to highlight what I see of the issue as an outsider currently living in Korea, with friendship ties to Japan. I cannot imagine that South Korea will ever give up Dokdo as it has become a part of their national identity and a rallying point whenever Japan and Korea clash on any given issue. The lingering wounds of the past are made fresh every time Dokdo is challenged.