U.S. did not inform S. Korea about change to Dokdo classification

Posted on : 2008-07-29 13:41 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Critics characterize it as diplomatic defeat for S. Korea on the Dokdo issue
 convened at the ministry on July 28. The United States did not inform South Korea about a recent change to the way it describes the Dokdo islets
convened at the ministry on July 28. The United States did not inform South Korea about a recent change to the way it describes the Dokdo islets

When a U.S. federal naming agency’s change in its classification of the Dokdo islets from “South Korean territory” to “undesignated sovereignty,” the United States government did not notify the government of South Korea. The U.S. government’s action was seen by many as “ignorance,” but was also viewed as a crushing diplomatic defeat on the Dokdo issue, following a renewed Japanese move to strengthen its territorial claim to Dokdo by claiming the islets as its territory in an instruction manual for middle school teachers, even after a summit between President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda at which the two leaders agreed to move beyond their disputes over history.

In a press conference on July 27 in Washington, D.C., Lee Tae-shik, the South Korean ambassador to the United States, said that he had not received any information about the change in reference to Dokdo’s sovereignty when he met on July 25 with officials from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, including the BGN’s executive secretary, Randall Flynn. During the meeting, the South Korean Embassy raised questions about the BGN’s recent change in how it names the islets, from Dokdo to Liancourt Rocks. Flynn and a U.S. State Department official in charge of names, answered questions from the South Korean side, but did not provide any explanation for the way it has classified Dokdo.

The South Korean Embassy was late in discovering that the BGN had changed the sovereignity of the islets. On the afternoon of July 27, it sent an e-mail to Flynn asking why the BGN had altered its classification of Dokdo. The South Korean Embassy received a brief reply from Flynn, who was quoted as saying that it was “simply in the process of updating its database to conform with government policy.”

It was believed that the BGN, a federal agency that maintains uniform geographic name usage throughout the U.S. federal government by holding regular meetings with officials from the Department of State and the Department of Defense, was reflecting the opinion of the U.S. Department of State when it changed the classification of Dokdo. This has handed South Korea a humiliating defeat by Japan in the diplomatic war over Dokdo.

“The BGN said it was following a decision made by the State Department,” said Lee, the South Korean ambassador. “Consequently, it will help a country that wants to make Dokdo a disputed area.”

In particular, the South Korean Embassy did not take any action in the July 25 meeting, even though the BGN admitted that the change in how Dokdo is named was “in line with the Department of State, which considers (Dokdo) a disputed area.”

“As the South Korean ambassador to the U.S., I regret and feel responsible for not taking the appropriate action in a timely manner,” Lee said. “In the future, I will do my utmost to explain South Korea’s ownership of Dokdo in terms of history, international laws and geography and will correct misperceptions by holding meetings with U.S. government officials.

“I will make a serious effort to resolve two issues: the change in the description of Dokdo and its sovereignty. Sovereignty is the most important thing.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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