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By Im In-tack, Staff Writer
　
An expert who effectively directed the Ulleung Island “inspection” by lawmakers with Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) returned to Japan on Sunday after being prevented from entering to South Korea, it was confirmed Monday. With the three LDP lawmakers declaring plans to go through with their original itinerary, observers are expressing concern about the potential flaring of current diplomatic friction. The issue has remained heated for both countries due to the fact that Japan’s conservative party has stepped up efforts to assert authority over Dokdo Island.
The individual denied entry Sunday night was Masao Shimojo, a Takushoku University professor known to be a right-wing academic on the Dokdo issue. Shimojo, who has consistently argued for Japan’s possession of Dokdo, arrived at Incheon International Airport at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday but was denied entry and prevented from passing the immigration review desk. After remaining within the airport for another three to four hours, Shimojo reportedly returned to Japan aboard a plane early Monday morning.
Shimojo was originally scheduled to arrive and enter the country with the lawmakers at Gimpo International Airport on Monday, but he appears to have taken a detour beforehand.
A senior ruling Grand National Party (GNP) official said, “Shimojo is a de facto leader of this Ulleung Island visit, and he appears to have come as a ‘forward party’ for testing purposes,” referring to the fact that the South Korean government provided notification that it would be denying entry.
Previously, Yoshitaka Shindo, House of Representatives member and acting chairman of the LDP‘s Special Committee on Territorial Issues, announced at a press conference that he and two other lawmakers would be going to South Korea as scheduled on Monday morning in order to inspect Ulleung Island.
Shindo explained that Nobuteru Ishihara, the LDP secretary who requested that they cancel their inspection, permitted the South Korea visit on the condition that the lawmakers go “in the status of individual lawmakers.”
“There is no change in our position that we cannot allow these lawmakers’ entry in light of the inability to guarantee their personal safety and the negative impact it could have on the two countries‘ relations,” said a South Korean government official on Sunday. “If they disembark at Gimpo Airport on Monday morning, the official at the immigration review desk will deny their entry and send them back.”
Lee Ju-young, policy committee chief for the ruling Grand National Party, reaffirmed the government’s intent to deny entry, saying, “For the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers to go through with their entry is another form of invasion.”
The Japanese government is known to have plans to formally protest through diplomatic channels any denial of entry to Shindo or the other lawmakers, calling it “inappropriate as treatment toward members of allied nation‘s parliament.”
Analysts said the Japanese government is likely to make a decision on whether to take measures in response, such as a ban on entry to South Korean lawmakers, after first observing domestic position opinion and trends in the political community.
Some observers are expressing alarm about excessive involvement by politicians in the two countries’ foreign affairs in an attempt to link the diplomatic issue of Dokdo with domestic politics. A foreign affairs source said, “We need to leave room for opinions in support of a calmer response than we are seeing now.”
　　
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