Japanese PM Blamed for "Diplomatic Consideration"

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda chose to stand between Japan’s right wing politicians who argue that Japan has to clearly state its sovereignty claim over Dokdo and the Korean government, which urges Japan to drop its sovereignty claim over the islets in the East Sea.

Given responses from the Korean government and Japanese politicians, however, it seems that he failed to catch neither of the two hares. On one hand, the Korean government strongly protested, saying, “Japan expressed its strong desire to claim its sovereignty over the Dokdo islets.” On the other hand, some Japanese said, “He gave up the chance to clearly express Japan’s sovereignty over the islets in exchange for diplomatic consideration.”

Political experts analyze that the Fukuda Cabinet, which supports Asia-centric diplomacy, made such a decision due to pressures from hawkish rightist politicians who have grown into a major force in Japan’s government and ruling party.

Japan’s first move to put its sovereignty claim over the Dokdo islets in the curriculum handbook appeared in March 2005. Then Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Nariaki Nakayama argued, “The new handbook should clearly state that Takeshima belongs to Japan.”

When approving high school textbooks in March 2006, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology ordered publishers of several textbooks, which stated “Korea and Japan has territorial disputes over Takeshima,” to change the expression to “Korea illegally occupies Takeshima, which belongs to Japan.”

When the Japanese ministry released a new teaching guide in March 2008, it did not put the issue over Dokdo in the book. It seemed that the Japanese government did not mention the territorial dispute since President Lee Myung-bak was scheduled to visit Japan in April.

iam@donga.com