“Focus of Indo-Japan relation should be FDI-based: Kamal Nath,” Navhind Times, 17 March 2005, http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=03179.

“Brazil, Germany, India, Japan Accelerate U.N Reform,” China View, 23 March 2005, htt…

“Focus of Indo-Japan relation should be FDI-based: Kamal Nath,” Navhind Times, 17 March 2005, http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=03179.

“Brazil, Germany, India, Japan Accelerate U.N Reform,” China View, 23 March 2005, htt…

I agree with Saru: Korea should just back off and make some lame official statement to keep the status quo. Imagine what the next step could be: mass protesting at the Aichi Expo? A combination of zainichi and no-visa Korean tourists could make for quite a crowd. Neither government wants to see that.

And anyway, despite all the idiotic protesters cutting their fingers off, this isn’t even the most important island dispute that Japan is dealing with. The Senkaku Islands have a much bigger potential to turn into something ugly. Saru: hurry up and write that paper!

And the biggest question is, why do Roh and his ilk don’t say a word about North Korean and the evil Kim Jong Il but bitch and moan at every chance they get about Korea’s friends.

as for roh’s latest hardline speech, i see it as no different in spirit from koizumi starting to visit the shrine some years back. it’s an appeal to look strong and nationalist. you may call koizumi’s method more subtle but in effect it’s always been about being able to quietly say f-you to china and korea to give service to those at home.

I’m also not touching your likening of the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula to “rosewater,” though I’m sure Curzon, that you know me well enough to imagine my thoughts on this.

That said, I will agree with you that the South Korean reaction to this has been, in my humble opinion, unnecessarily extreme. First of all, we’re talking about Shimane Prefecture here. Get a map. It’s Shimane. I’m just guessing, but I would say that to most Japanese what matters more than the possession of these rocks is the sight of such firey South Korean behavior. That is certaily going to make a greater, and longer lasting negative impression.

Secondly, Koreans currently occupy Dokdo/Takeshima. There is very little chance that Japan is going to use force to remove the Koreans, no matter how many backwater prefectures pass legislation commemorataing it. By all rights, it is Korea’s (and the ICJ would probably agree, and since the Japanese are willing to go there over it, why not take them up on it and end this mess once and for all?) Raising such a stink over this only makes the situation worse because the Japanese, so far, have been wise enough not to take the bait. Instead, they respond with calm and measured moderation, which only makes the Koreans look even more extreme. It seems that Presidnet Roh has fallen into desparately using this issue to stoke anti-Japanese sentiment for his own political gain (and possibly in connection with the campaign to criticize and flush out people like Park, whose father was a “collaborater” with the Japanese).

The judgement, of course, is his to make, but it’s sad to see relations, which have been steadily improving according to the annual Japanese cabinet office poll, suffer over this. I should think that South Korea would be much better served if they just followed the Japanese example on this and just let the Foreign Ministry issue a statement declaring Dokdo as Korean territory, while letting spokesmen like Roh call publicly for a peaceful settlement.

Minister Oh made clear, “If we abrogate the Fisheries Agreement, our boats will no longer be able to fish in the Japanese EEZ, and it can bring about a collapse in near-sea fishing. We have fished 1.6 times more than the Japanese did in each other’s EEZs since the 1999 Fisheries Agreement came into effect.”

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=020000&biid=2005032256048

also speaking of denials…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1599642.stm

and bribes…
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200501/200501170044.html

The Korean government seems to have screwed the Korean people on that one.