South Korea's police chief flew to a group of rocky islets yesterday in a symbolic trip stressing the country's control of the barely inhabitable outcroppings, while the Seoul government tried to stem a brewing territorial dispute with Japan from engulfing another island.
Hur Joon-young was South Korea's first police chief to visit the cluster of islets, called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, since South Korea regained control of them at the end of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.
Hur, who traveled to the islets by helicopter, urged a contingent of South Korean policemen based there to "be proud of protecting part of our national territory and keep up with their vigilance," reported South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
PHOTO: AP
The volcanic outcroppings, roughly halfway between South Korea and Japan and surrounded by rich fishing grounds, became a focal point of South Koreans' rekindled ill feelings toward their former colonial rulers this month when the Japanese ambassador called them "historically and legally" part of Japanese territory. Tempers spiked further this week when a local Japanese assembly voted to designate a special day to commemorate Tokyo's claim to the islets.
In a tit-for-tat measure, South Korea's Masan City outraged many Japanese on Friday by passing a resolution commemorating Korean claims to Japan's Tsushima Island, off South Korea's southeastern tip, which Koreans say was once controlled by ancient Korean kingdoms.
The comparable actions by local agencies in the two nations have yet to be endorsed by their respective central governments.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry yesterday criticized Masan City.
"The ministry fully understands Masan citizens' loyal patriotism but the measure does not help the government's efforts to defend its sovereignty over Dokdo and could trigger unnecessary disputes," ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung said in a statement. "We should take a practical and cool-headed approach in defending Dokdo."
The statement appeared to reflect South Korea's efforts to curb overflowing emotions. Last week, a mother and son cut their fingers in a show of anger. A man set himself on fire during a protest this week.
While Japan warned traveling citizens to avoid protests in Seoul, T-shirts bearing the picture of the islets are gaining popularity among South Koreans. A mobile phone company took out ads reminding people that its signals are caught in the far-flung islets. Youngsters play electronic games featuring Koreans depending Dokdo from invaders.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS