South Korea’s largest opposition party calls for “Dokdo Day” to be designated a national holiday, but the reason why the South Korean government is cautious

Regarding the Takeshima Islands in Shimane Prefecture, over which South Korea claims sovereignty, a movement to designate "Dokdo (the Korean name for Takeshima) Day," which has been established by a South Korean private organization, as a national commemorative day has been proposed by the largest opposition party in South Korea, the People's Democratic Party.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Han Deok-soo said that such a move should be handled with "extreme caution." The government and the ruling and opposition parties are in agreement that "Dokdo is Korean territory," but
Why did Prime Minister Han show such a cautious attitude towards designating "Dokdo Day" as a commemorative day? South Korea claims sovereignty over Takeshima as "Dokdo" and continues to exercise effective control over the island. "Dokdo Day" is a day when the island is considered to be part of South Korea's territory.
The proclamation was made in 2010 with the aim of promoting the fact that Dokdo is the territory of Korea. The reason for choosing October 25th is that on this day in 1900, King Gojong, the 26th king of the Joseon Dynasty, declared, "Dokdo is our territory.
It commemorates the enactment of Imperial Decree No. 41, which declared Korea "the territory of the Korean peninsula." Although it is not an official national anniversary, various related events are held around the country on this day every year.
On the other hand, Japan's basic position is that Takeshima is an inherent part of Japanese territory in light of historical facts and international law.
This is also stated in the "Diplomatic Bluebook" and the "Defense White Paper" by the Ministry of Defense, but the South Korean side shows strong opposition whenever these are made public.
" The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release saying, "We are extremely sorry for the repeated unjust claims to sovereignty over Liancourt Rocks, which are clearly our inherent territory based on historical, geographical and international law.
"We strongly protest," he said. "We would like to make it clear once again that the unjust claims of the Japanese government do not in any way affect our sovereignty over Liancourt Rocks, which is an inherent part of the Korean territory.
"We will respond firmly to any provocations from the South Korean government," he said, urging Japan to recognize that such claims "are of no use in building a future-oriented Japan-South Korea relationship."
The Pacific Bureau chief summoned the chief of staff of the Japanese Embassy in South Korea to protest. South Korean media at the time pointed out that "Japan has claimed sovereignty over Dokdo for 20 consecutive years since 2005" in its defense white paper.
In the midst of this, South Korea's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, is moving to submit a bill to amend the law to designate "Dokdo Day" as a national holiday.
The People Power Party, which was the opposition party at the time, submitted a bill twice to designate the day as a national holiday. However, the Moon Jae-in administration at the time showed reluctance. The reason was that the South Korean government was hesitant to make the bill.
The government does not acknowledge the existence of a territorial dispute over the island, and since the island is clearly Korean territory, it is not even subject to diplomatic negotiations or judicial settlement.
They have said that designating "Long Island Day" as a national holiday could spread the wrong perception that the islands are a disputed territory.
However, the Democratic Party of Korea has fallen into the opposition under the current administration and has now made a complete turnaround and started calling for Dokdo Day to be designated a national holiday.
The Democratic Party of Japan has submitted a bill to amend the Dokdo Utilization Law to designate Dokdo Day as a national holiday. This is a stark contrast to the stance taken by the previous administration, when the party was in power. According to the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, one of the party lawmakers who submitted the bill
One person explained, "The situation has changed now." It was a lame excuse. In response to these moves, Prime Minister Han Deok-soo said, "We should be extremely cautious." The reason is
The reason is that, even though South Korea effectively controls the island, designating it as a commemorative day would make it seem as if the island were a disputed area, which would be diplomatically unwise.
"Anyone with a rational, diplomatic philosophy would think that way. Anyone who doesn't is irrational," he said. The South Korean government has been on edge to avoid the island being interpreted as a disputed area, and late last year
In 2015, the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea announced the recall of all educational materials distributed to South Korean soldiers, after they contained the statement, "This is a territory of territorial dispute." The educational materials also contained the statement, "China, Russia, and other nations around the Korean Peninsula are in conflict."
"There is a fierce conflict between several powerful nations, including China, Russia, and Japan," he said, before adding, "These nations have been projecting their military power overseas for their own national interests, and have been seizing the Diaoyu Islands (known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan) and the Kuril Islands.
"There are ongoing territorial disputes over the islands (the Kuril Islands) and the Liancourt Rocks issue, and there is a risk of military conflict breaking out at any time," the textbook said.
The teaching materials were all recalled after being reported by the Korean media. However, as mentioned above, the current ruling party, the People's Power Party, had also been pushing for the designation of "Dokdo Day" as a national holiday during the previous administration when it was in the opposition.
However, after becoming the ruling party, they suddenly became more cautious about designating islands. One has to say that their positions are inconsistent.