Seoul dismisses Tokyo’s ICJ proposal over Dokdo

Kotaro Otsuki, a political councilor at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, gets in a car after receiving a diplomatic document, dismissing Tokyo’s proposal for an ICJ settlement regarding Dokdo, from the Seoul government at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Thursday. (Photo : Yonhap)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade sent a diplomatic document to Japan, Thursday, dismissing the latter’s proposal to take the issue of South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The government sent the document through the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

“We’ve sent a diplomatic document dismissing Japan’s call to take the Dokdo issue to the ICJ,” said a foreign ministry official. “We firmly stated our position that the islets are not a disputed territory and there is no reason for us to seek a ruling from the ICJ.”

The move comes as a counter to last week’s written proposal from Tokyo that the two countries ask the international court to settle the issue, challenging South Korea’s territorial sovereignty of Dokdo.

Seoul keeps a police detachment on the islets effectively controlling them.

Against this backdrop, Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba described Seoul’s rejection of the proposal as “extremely regretful” and said Tokyo is “considering relevant countermeasures including unilaterally filing a complaint to the ICJ.”

The Seoul-Tokyo relationship has soured since President Lee Myung-bak visited Dokdo on Aug. 10, rekindling Japan’s claims over the islets.

Following the official refusal, analysts say it is likely that Japan will attempt to unilaterally file a suit at the ICJ. However, this is conceived as unfeasible since it needs to secure Seoul’s consent to have the issue dealt with at this level.

“Though invalid, Tokyo’s action of referring the issue for an ICJ resolution has its benefits as it can give the outside world the impression that the islets are a disputed area,” said Nam Sang-gu, a researcher at the state-run Northeast Asian History Foundation. “The Japanese government also cannot back off at this moment considering the prevailing nationalist sentiment in the political scene there ahead of the general elections.”

“But the bottom line is that Japan’s measure will not affect South Korea’s territorial sovereignty,” added Nam.

Observers believe the two sides will now move on to the next step of promoting their sovereignty over the islets to the outside world putting a temporary end to the heightening territorial tension.

Japan has frequently laid claim to Dokdo located in the body of water separating the two, fanning anti-Japanese sentiment here as Koreans see those claims as a denial the country’s independence from its former colonial ruler.

Meanwhile, the South Korean military plans to hold a regular military exercise in waters near the islets next week, which observers see as a factor that could again raise tension between the two neighboring countries. <The Korea Times/Chung Min-uck>

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