Japan's prime minister, Noda tries to take over Dokdo to gain popularity

[xomputer]

The atmosphere between Korea and Japan on Dokdo is tense.
After President Lee Myung-bak visited Dokdo, and requested that the Japanese Emperor apologize for the comfort women issue, Japan has reacted fiercely.
Noda, prime minister of Japan, has a very low approval rating, so he wouldn't miss this chance.
He would react strongly against Dokdo to gain approval ratings.
Recently, Japan gathered foreign reporters and stated that Dokdo is Japanese territory and Noda sent a letter of complaint to President Lee for visiting Dokdo.
At the moment, Korea feels that there is no need to react to the jibber jabber of Japan because Dokdo is Korean territory and Japan has no right to criticize the Korean president for visiting Korean territory.
Dokdo has been under effective control of Korea since the past to the present days. In ancient maps and official documents Dokdo is shown as Korean territory, and the conscientious Japanese scholars admit this fact.
The Japanese politicians should stop making a show to gain approval ratings for their own political benefit, and admit that Dokdo is Korean territory. They should also repent and compensate for the past crimes they have committed through comfort women.
It's about time that Japan let go of its imperialistic dreams!

 

[Unkotare]

The atmosphere between Korea and Japan on Dokdo is tense.
After President Lee Myung-bak visited Dokdo, and requested that the Japanese Emperor apologize for the comfort women issue, Japan has reacted fiercely.

You are being dishonest. That is not what happened.

First of all, Japan has officially apologized for that and other wartime atrocities many times.

Second, the incident in question is not at all as you suggest. The South Korean government, out of the blue, demanded a personal apology from the Emperor himself as a condition for being allowed to visit South Korea. However, no plans or request for a such a visit had ever been made, so the demand made no sense other than as a propaganda move for the domestic audience in South Korea. It was a really strange attempt to offend with no actual context.

 

[Unkotare]

Noda, prime minister of Japan, has a very low approval rating, so he wouldn't miss this chance.
He would react strongly against Dokdo to gain approval ratings.

You are being dishonest. That is not what happened.


The current escalation in tensions stems from Lee's unprecedented visit to Takeshima. It was Lee who was looking to bolster his political fortunes at home with such a stunt. For decades a degree of consideration had been given to the sensitive nature of the disputed islands on both sides, but Lee decided to grandstand in order to stir up nationalistic, anti-Japanese sentiment at home. 'Mouse' Lee has never been terribly popular and knows he can use a stunt like this to his own political advantage. It will probably work, too. South Korean politicians do this sort of thing every few years - creating hate, violence, and hysteria - for their own political purposes. There have been news stories of small school children creating 'Hate Japan' posters as school assignments, demonstrators in the streets setting themselves on fire or cutting themselves, and most recently "No Japs Allowed" signs on shops and restaurants in Seoul. Very classy. Very diplomatic. Very adult. Sure to improve relations.

 

[Unkotare]

Noda sent a letter of complaint to President Lee for visiting Dokdo.
At the moment, Korea feels that there is no need to react to the jibber jabber of Japan

Most recently, South Korea - in an unprecedented act of childishness - refused to accept a diplomatic letter from one national leader to another. This is about one step removed from the diplomatic equivalent of screaming "you're a poopy head!" No progress will be made on the issue of Takeshima this way. South Korea has rejected a request to have the International Court of Justice arbitrate the matter. I fear that innocent people are going to get hurt if all of this hysteria is deliberately ramped up further. To squander all the progress that has been made in relations between the two nations this way is more than just irresponsible.

 

[Toro]

Who's the PM of Japan this month?

 

[ThirdTerm]

Japan failed to reclaim ownership of Dokdo during the negotiations of the 1952 San Francisco Peace Treaty and South Korea now has effective control over Dokdo by stationing a small number of troops and it's futile for the Japanese government to raise the issue all over again. Dokdo was initially colonised by the Japanese Empire in 1905 and the Cairo Declaration of 1943 states that "all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China" and the Japanese Empire was stripped of its overseas colonies in 1945 as part of the post-war settlement.

 

[Unkotare]

If Korea were confident in their claim over Takeshima, I wonder why they would so stridently avoid independent arbitration at the International Court of Justice?

 

[ThirdTerm]

If Korea were confident in their claim over Takeshima, I wonder why they would so stridently avoid independent arbitration at the International Court of Justice?

It's unwise for Japan to get dragged into a diplomatic dispute over Dokdo because the case is unwinnable even if the dispute is taken up by the ICJ and making a fuss over the issue will only satisfy South Korean nationalists. But Japan has international law on its side concerning the Senkaku Islands dispute and it's foolish to negotiate with China on that matter because the Senkaku Islands were legally returned to Japan in 1972 from the US which was the final arbiter of Japan's territorial issues in the post-war era.

 

[Unkotare]

It's unwise for Japan to get dragged into a diplomatic dispute over Dokdo because the case is unwinnable even if the dispute is taken up by the ICJ .

If that were the case, why would Korea be afraid to bring the Takeshima issue before the ICJ?

 

[ThirdTerm]

It's unwise for Japan to get dragged into a diplomatic dispute over Dokdo because the case is unwinnable even if the dispute is taken up by the ICJ .

If that were the case, why would Korea be afraid to bring the Takeshima issue before the ICJ?

Noda said that Lee had “illegally landed” on the islands and he is pressing Lee to bring the case to the ICJ but Lee is uncooperative because his only intention is to annoy the Japanese with a series of diplomatic stunts and there was nothing illegal about landing on his own territory in the first place. The issue is non-negotiable anyways and the Japanese government is misinforming the public on this issue and it's dangerous to fan the flames of nationalism. Moreover, once you get into formal negotiations, you could give your opponent an advantage and the Korean electronic manufacturer learned a bitter lesson after losing a patent case against Apple and it was fined more than $1 billion in damages and many of its products will be banned in the US. Japan should be more civilised about handling diplomatic issues and rather than stooping to the level of its Asian neighbours by blaming each other for illegal landings, it should stop clinging to its lost territories such as the Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands which are effectively controlled by Russia with America's acquiescence. Japan has no power to change the post-war settlement retroactively and even the ICJ cannot change the status quo.

 

[Unkotare]

That post completely ignored my question. If Korea is confident about their claim over Takeshima, why not bring it before the ICJ and resolve the matter once and for all?