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S.Korean PM visits disputed islets
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-29 23:56 SEOUL - South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo visited the disputed islets of Dokdo, which Japan also claims sovereignty and calls Takeshima, in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Tuesday, drawing more attentions to the territorial dispute between Seoul and Tokyo. Protest against Japan's territorial claim Han was the first South Korean prime minister to visit the islets of Dokdo, which is located some 89 km southeast to South Korea's Uleung Island and 160 km northwest to Japan's Oki Island.
During his one-day visit, which Japan identified as its territory in its middle school guidebook for teachers in mid-July, Han set up a stone monument with the words "Dokdo belongs to Korea" on the islets. Local media said the move was conducted in protest against Japan's claim to the Dokdo. "Dokdo is the son of our country, and historically, geographically and legally belongs to us. It cannot be taken away by anyone," the prime minister was quoted as saying in the islets by local media. Han, accompanied by culture and transportation ministers, inspected the small islets, on which only two South Koreans register to live permanently, and met with police guards stationing there. "Thank you for your labor and effort to safeguard our land," Han told the police guards. S.Korean-US summit to discuss Dokdo issue Han's visit came after the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN) changed the description over Dokdo from the previous "islets under South Korea's control" to "an area of undesignated sovereignty," which adds South Korean government's worries that the Dokdo might be regarded internationally as disputed land. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted unnamed South Korean Foreign Ministry official as saying that South Korea is to raise the Dokdo issue onto agenda of the upcoming summit between South Korea and the United States. US President George W. Bush is set to visit Seoul on August 5-6 and hold talks with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak. "President Lee will raise the issue," Yonhap said, quoting unnamed senior official of the Foreign Ministry. Bush is expected to face massive street protests over the US stance on Dokdo as well as over the resumption of US beef imports to South Korea, Yonhap said. |
