<Commentary W> Public opinion in South Korea, which does not want the Takeshima issue to be the subject of “issues,” and in Japan, which insists that a stronger stance should be taken

Gyeongsangbuk-do in southeastern Korea, which claims Shimane Prefecture's Takeshima (Korean name: Dokdo) as its administrative area, will hold a plenary session of its provincial council next month on Takeshima. Several Korean media outlets, including Yonhap News, reported the news. On May 2nd in South Korea, a member of the Diet of the opposition party and his associates landed on Takeshima. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly protested the landing, but it has been pointed out on the Japanese Internet that the Japanese government's response has been lax, and there are many voices calling for a stronger stance.

According to the provincial assembly of Gyeongsangbuk-do, the first regular plenary session of the 340th assembly is scheduled to be held at the Dokdo dock in Takeshima on the 12th of next month. About 150 people are expected to attend, including the chairman, provincial lawmakers, and Governor Lee Cheol-woo, and plans to hold a "Rally to protect Dokdo." They also encourages the people who work at the island management office.

This is the fifth time that the provincial council has held a plenary session on the island, having previously held meetings in October 2006, August 2010, April 2015 and June 2019.

Gyeongsangbuk-do has so far claimed territorial sovereignty over the island as an administrative body. It used to have a sisterhood relationship with Shimane Prefecture, but when Shimane Prefecture established "Takeshima Day" in 2005, it withdrew the relationship and declared severance. At the time, the provincial assembly protested by burning the Japanese flag and designated October as the “Month of Dokdo” as part of a campaign to assert South Korea’s sovereignty over the island. The date of October was set in line with South Korea's claim that it designated the island as its jurisdiction on October 25th, 1900. In addition, the Korean civic group Dokdo Guardian Corps has designated October 25th as “Dokdo Day”.

In addition to holding a campaign involving local children, the 2021 Dokdo Educational Olympics will be held for elementary, middle and high school students before the opening of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Projects such as “Dokdo Love Quiz Contest” and “Dokdo Conservation Determination Contest” were developed. At the time, South Korea was intensifying its opposition, pointing out that the map on the website of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games “shows Dokdo as if it were Japanese territory.”

On the 7th, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will hold a Japan-South Korea summit meeting with President Yoon Seo-gyeol. He is asking for In the midst of this, on the 2nd, Rep. Jung Young-gi, who belongs to the same party, landed on Takeshima with more than a dozen members of a student group. Rep. Jeong and others are said to have waved the Korean flag and shouted, “Dokdo is our territory.” It will be the first time since August 2021 that a South Korean parliamentarian will land on Takeshima. Rep. Jeong criticized the Yoon administration for improving relations with Japan as “humiliating,” and tried to reach the island on the 28th of last month, but the waves were high and he gave up landing. Rep. Chung is a young man who has been elected once. After landing, he posted on his SNS, "I directly proved that Dokdo is our territory."

On the other hand, Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, protested to Kim Yong-gil, deputy minister of the South Korean Embassy in Japan, saying, "It is absolutely unacceptable and extremely regrettable."

On the 5th, Mr. Chung, who landed on the island, explained his true intentions again on a Korean radio program. “Japan has already described Takeshima as Japanese territory in its security documents, and is now claiming it in its diplomatic speeches. I thought I had to, so I decided to go ashore with the youth committee (student group)."

However, even in South Korea, Jeong's landing on Takeshima has been criticized. So far, the South Korean government has not acknowledged the existence of a territorial dispute over the islands, and from the standpoint that the islands are clearly South Korean territory, it has argued that they are not subject to diplomatic negotiations or judicial settlement in the first place. there is However, if a lawmaker were to land on the island and claim sovereignty over it, it would be acknowledging Takeshima as the subject of controversy, which is inconsistent with the government's position. Professor Park Won Gon of Ewha Womans University expressed concern in an interview with the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, saying, "If cases like this continue over and over again, only Japan will be at an advantage."

On the other hand, Japan has been criticized for its usual reaction to the Takeshima issue, which is to "protest" and "express regret." Regarding Prime Minister Kishida's visit to South Korea today, on the 7th, there were comments on the Internet saying, "At this time, we landed on Takeshima. It's being completely underestimated." There were also voices calling for bringing the Takeshima issue up on the agenda at the summit, saying, "I don't know how many times the Takeshima issue has been brought up in the past Japan-South Korea summit talks, but this time I can't help but confront it head-on."