The Liancourt Rocks Dispute: A New War May Be Coming to Asia
The Increasing
Tensions Between South Korea and Japan
Corey Brown, Yahoo! Contributor Network
May 23, 2013
In South Korea
today you would expect the local citizens to have strong emotional feelings
about the aggression of North Korea. There are numerous reasons for local people in
the South to be concerned with the North. There has been the
recent rhetoric from North Korea about nuclear threats, the sinking of a
South
Korean naval vessel the Cheonan, and the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island
in 2010.
But in SouthKorea today most people are not nationalistically angry
at North Korea. The surprising find is that Koreans are
increasingly aggressive and hostile toward Japan.
The hostility against Japan all stems from history. Between 1910-1945 Korea was
annexed by Japan, and for 35 years the Korean people were victimized by their
occupier. Several unresolved issues remain from the time of Japanese occupation
including the role of comfort women, but there is another big issue dominating
the minds of most South
Koreans today.
In 1951 America signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan creating
peace between Japan and America. This treaty outlines how Japan's colonial
empire will be dismantled and remade into new countries. This treaty included
remaking the country of Korea with its historical borders. But here is where the
current
conflict between Japan and South Korea materialized. In Article 2 section A of the treaty
Japan does not renounce its claim to two small islands between Korea and Japan. These two islands are known in English
as the Liancourt rocks (In Korean they are called Dokdo 독도, in Japanese they
are called Takeshima たけしま). Korea is currently claiming these islands and citing
them as being a part of its historical territory.
According to the San Francisco peace treaty Japan is still the sovereign
ruler of these islands. But the reality on the ground is that these islands are
controlled by SouthKorea. As of today there are two South Koreans who live on the island and the South Korean
military has a small base supporting the Korean claim. The South Korean public is highly supportive of their
government's control over these islands and they see it as a matter of national
pride to keep these islands under Korean control. But according to the Peace
Treaty of San Francisco these islands are still the property of Japan. Tensions
are rising between Korea
and Japan over who has the true claim to these two islands. And these tensions
are what is fueling a new conflict in far eastern Asian
relations.
This article explains in very good context exactly what is causing distress between Korea and Japan. Ever since the early 1900's Korea and Japan have been in disputes because of treaty the was signed that said these two islands would be Japans, but now krea has claimed it to be a important aspect in Korean history. The dispute between these two countries has gone on for a long time even though these islands have no conomical value or etc, Japan and Korea still insist on who rightfully owns it. Even though the treaty states that it belongs to Japan, Korea has been able to keep hold of it because it has a small military base on it which seems to be claiming it for Korea itself.
In our class we have already studied the disputes of Japan and Korea and have come to the conclusion that they are still mad over the annexing between them and the treatment of eachother and they have been trying to prove eachother wrong for the past hundred years and this small disput over these two islands is turning into a big deal because of the dispisement by the countries themselves and the history between them...
In our class we have already studied the disputes of Japan and Korea and have come to the conclusion that they are still mad over the annexing between them and the treatment of eachother and they have been trying to prove eachother wrong for the past hundred years and this small disput over these two islands is turning into a big deal because of the dispisement by the countries themselves and the history between them...