Experts urge `customized responses` to Japan`s Dokdo claim

The Korean government is under fire for its plan to build facilities on the Dokdo islets aimed at boosting the country`s effective control of the disputed island.

On the construction of breakwaters on Dokdo, a government official in Seoul said, “The construction will only serve the interests of related ministries and builders,” adding, “Allowing free access to the island by the people is effective control of it.”

In 1952, Tokyo launched a diplomatic protest against Seoul’s declaration of a maritime sovereignty line in waters off Dokdo`s coast. So facilities built on Dokdo afterwards are ineffective in claiming Korean sovereignty over the islets based on international law, according to experts.

With the conservative Liberal Democratic Party of Japan repeatedly bringing up the islets and history debates to attack the Democratic Party-controlled Japanese government, Tokyo is likely to routinely launch provocations against Seoul over the disputed islets.

Experts sad this necessitates “customized responses” by Korea. Seoul’s excessive measures, as seen in the entry ban on Japanese lawmakers who wanted to visit Ulleung Island, will raise the standing of Japanese right-wing forces, they added.

Jin Chang-soo, head of the Seoul-based Sejong Institute Japan Center, said, “With politicians such as Special Affairs Minister Lee Jae-oh (who stayed in Ulleung and Dokdo for four days), raising their voices, Korea put meaning to Japanese lawmakers’ meaningless act."

zeitung@donga.com