1. How do people around the world know about Dokdo?
After receiving Diana’s email, Seung-ju decided to see how Dokdo and the East Sea are labeled on foreign maps.
On the National Geographic’s Internet map service, the East Sea is labeled as the “East Sea/Sea of Japan” in Korea and as the “Sea of Japan/East Sea” in Japan. And while Ulleungdo is labeled Ulleung, Dokdo is not marked.
Seung-ju felt bad and asked the teacher why Dokdo and East Sea are written like that.
“Teacher! Why do so many countries around the world write Dokdo and the East Sea like this on their maps?”
“That’s a good question. It is because Japan is actively informing others that Dokdo is Takeshima and the East Sea is the Sea of Japan.”
“How are they doing that?”
“The menu on the homepage of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs includes “Takeshima” and “Sea of Japan” and includes claims in many languages that Dokdo is part of Japan. In addition, Japan is sending information to overseas tourism bureaus claiming Dokdo is their land.”
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs homepage includes Japan’s stance on Dokdo in Korean and other languages, as well.
Japan is making promotional materials like the one below, falsely claiming in several languages that Dokdo is part of Japan.
■ Let’s sum up Japan’s efforts to inform the world that Dokdo is their territory.
■ Let’s look at the materials on the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs homepage (www.mofa.go.kr) and sum up why Japan’s claim to Dokdo is incorrect.
Our teacher told us when Japan started making territorial claims to Dokdo.
- [note 007]
- The name given to Dokdo when discovered by a French whaling ship in 1849