1.5 pct. of world maps say Dokdo is Korean territory

Just 1.5 out of every 100 world maps in textbooks, regular books and Web pages around the globe describe the Dokdo islets as Korean territory, said a report released on Tuesday.

Ruling Grand National Party Rep. Kim Ho-yeon, a member of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, trade and unification, received the report from the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry. The report said that among 3,380 maps of the world, just 49 say Dokdo is part of Korea.

The Foreign Ministry has conducted five biannual surveys of major maps produced by countries on the naming and description of sovereignty over the islets from 2008 to last year’s latter half.

This is the first time for the ministry to announce the results of surveys on the matter through many civic organizations, such as the cyber diplomatic corps VANK, released probe results on the naming of Dokdo.

Most countries are aware of Korea and Japan locking horns over the islets` sovereignty, according to the ministry survey. The majority of the surveyed maps (3,135 or 92.7 percent) did not specify to whom the islet belong, and 93 maps or 2.8 percent called it disputed territory.

The number of maps describing the islets as Japan’s was 47, a bit lower than that of maps calling it Korean territory (49).

ditto@donga.com