JAPAN: The decision to map a group of islets is worsening a long-running dispute, writes Anthony Faiolo in Tokyo
A long-simmering dispute between Japan and South Korea over a group of islets has sharply escalated - with South Korea dispatching a flotilla of 20 patrol ships toward the territory as the Japanese coast guard sought to conduct an official survey in surrounding waters.
The South Korean action on Wednesday came as Japan rejected a warning from Seoul and vowed to forge ahead with a six-week mapping expedition aimed at bolstering Tokyo's legal claims to the rocky outcroppings controlled by South Korea. Enraged officials in Seoul strongly suggested they would use force if necessary to prevent two Japanese coast guard ships from reaching the islets - known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese.
South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss Seoul's options and denounced Japan's move as an "offensive provocation". Seoul's foreign minister, Ban Ki Moon, warned that his nation would "act sternly" and was preparing "counter-measures for all scenarios".
Most analysts dismissed the notion that the two east Asian powers would come into direct military conflict over the islets, but at the very least, the intensifying dispute poses new challenges for the United States. The latest events dramatically widened a growing diplomatic breach between Washington's two biggest allies in the region.
The tensions also underscored the broader frictions between Japan and its neighbours as hawkish prime minister Junichiro Koizumi has taken a more assertive stance on a series of issues, including territorial claims dating back to Tokyo's long period of military build-up before the second World War.
Both South Korea and China have expressed outrage at the recasting of history text books here to reflect Japan's territorial claims and allegedly whitewash past aggression.
One Japanese official familiar with the situation said the decision to launch the mission was made after a South Korean government website announced plans to present a Korean name for an underwater basin in the contested area during an International Hydrographic Organization conference in Germany scheduled for June. Japan is likely to use data from the surveying operation to support an alterative name.
The official said that Japanese vessels were not expected to directly approach the islets.
The Japanese public has yet to pay much attention to the dispute. But in South Korea, it has taken on huge proportions.
Both nations maintain centuries-old claims to the area, which is rich in fishing grounds. But the South Koreans view Japan's 1905 move to enforce its control over the islets as a precursor to the invasion and 35-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
As Japan under Koizumi has stepped up its claims, the South Koreans have grown furious, increasing their police presence on the outcroppings and allowing a dutiful young South Korean couple to move there in an attempt to populate them. A video game, "Save Dokdo", in which players wipe out a merciless battalion of fictional Japanese invaders - has become a massive hit in South Korea.
South Korea and Japan are also locked in a testy diplomatic battle over the name of the body of water where the islets rest - called the Sea of Japan by Tokyo and the East Sea by Seoul. Citing territorial and other disputes, President Roh has repeatedly refused offers for a summit with Koizumi in Japan. - (LA Times-Washington Post service)