South Korea announced a five-year plan yesterday to explore and develop resources in waters surrounding a string of disputed islets in a move to bolster its control over territory also claimed by Japan.
South Korea said it will spend about 34 billion won (US$36.4 million) until 2010 to explore and manage fisheries and mineral resources in waters around the islets, called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese. They lie roughly halfway between the two countries, and are currently controlled by Seoul.
"Dokdo is clearly our territory and a precious natural heritage," said Kang Moo-hyun, vice minister of maritime affairs and fisheries. "We need to give opportunities to both current and future generations to equally use Dokdo and share the benefits."
The plan, part of a law enacted last year, is aimed at "strengthening [South Korea's] effective control over Dokdo," the Maritime Ministry said in a statement.
The islets are at the center of a long-running dispute between the two countries, which flared anew last month when Japan said it would conduct a maritime survey in waters near the islets.
The area is a rich fishing ground believed to also have deposits of methane hydrate, a potential natural gas source.
As part of the plan announced yesterday, South Korea will conduct studies on fisheries as well as mineral resources in the area, the ministry said.
The country will also bolster monitoring of the ecosystem on and around the islets and upgrade facilities on the islets, where a small police detachment of some 30 is stationed, the ministry said.
Also yesterday, KT Corp, South Korea's main telecommunications company, started providing telephone service for the only civilian residents on the islets -- a 66-year-old South Korean man and his wife.
"We can now show to the whole world that Dokdo, where our country's phone service works, is clearly our land," the company said in a statement.
Until now, telephone service has been provided only to policemen guarding the area.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has vowed to defend the islets at all costs, following the latest spat over territorial claims.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the