뉴스레터

On April 11, 2012, the 'Tokyo Rally Calling for Early Resolution of the Takeshima (the Japanese name for Dokdo) Issue' was held in downtown Tokyo with the participation of a great number of vice minister-level government officials and lawmakers of Japan. The hosts of the rally were the 'alliance of lawmakers acting to safeguard Japanese territory' and 'Shimane prefecture convention of the campaign for demanding the restoration of Takeshima and the Northern Territories.' This Dokdo-related rally was the first of its kind ever held in Tokyo, and the attendance of such rally by government ministers of Japan, who had been cautious about attending events advocating sovereignty over Dokdo, was unheard of. Naturally, it was feared that the rally would further increase tension in Korea-Japan relations over the Dokdo issue.

The Criticism of 'Korea's Effective Control of Dokdo' Highlighted in Downtown Tokyo

The overall theme of this rally attended by 800 Japanese was to criticize 'Korea's effective control.' The organizers had sent out an invitation to eight cabinet members of Japan, including Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko (野田佳彦), but none of them came. Instead, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi (山口壯), one of the key figures of foreign affairs in the Noda administration, and Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the Prime Minister Nagashima Akihisa (長島昭久) attended the event.

As participants from the Japanese political circles, eight party executives, including Ichikawa Yasuo (一川保夫), a member of the Democratic Party of Japan and of the House of Councillors in the Diet and the former Minister of Defense, gave an opening address. Either from the ruling or the opposing party, forty-nine lawmakers were present in person while thirteen lawmakers had their deputies present. Yamatani Eriko (山谷えり子; lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan), the president of the lawmakers alliance, who gave the first opening address, cited the examples of Korea's effective control, urging the Japanese government to set up a department devoted to dealing with the Takeshima issue. In his opening address, Mizoguchi Zenbee, the governor of Shimane Prefecture, said that "the rally today would be a turning point for Takeshima-claim to spread nationwide" and demanded that "the Japanese government should establish a department dedicated to resolving this issue and step up its efforts to promote to the Japanese people that Takeshima is Japanese territory.

The lawmakers who took the podium next made highly provocative comments. For instance, Sakurauchi Humiki, a politician of Your Party of Japan and vice present of the policy research society, said in his opening address that "Japan should invoke the right of individual self-defense as Korea invaded Japanese territory by forcefully occupying Dokdo." Hiranuma Takeo the leader of the Sunrise Party of Japan argued that "they should amend the constitution (forbidding war) and be born again as a true independent country if they were to reclaim Takeshima just as the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher reclaimed the Falkland Islands."

Vice Minister Yamaguchi said, "it still holds true that Takeshima is an inherent territory of Japan," and, "the Takeshima issue is an important issue related to Japan's sovereignty, and a series of measures recently taken by the Korean government in relation to this issue should not be tolerated." He added, "although this issue may not be resolved at once, I will keep working on it with persistence."

On the 10th day, on hearing the news that Secretary Nagashima would attend the rally, I called his office on the phone to hear an explanation why the Secretary for the Prime Minster as the key player in foreign affairs in the Noda administration had decided to attend the 'Tokyo Rally Calling for Early Resolution of the Takeshima (竹島) Issue' organized by right-wingers. From the two interviews that I had with him last year (Aug. 6, Oct. 28), I knew that Nagashima held views clearly dissenting from those of right-wingers. So I wanted to find out why he had decided to attend their rally. When I arrived at the office of the hall of the lawmakers association for the interview scheduled in the morning of the 12th day, the assistant staff ushered me into the secretary's office located within the Prime Minster's residence.

Secretary Nagashima explained that he had considered meeting with the Korean ambassador to Japan in the evening of the 11th day or in the morning of the 12th day to explain himself but thought better of it for fear of unnecessary diplomatic trouble which might be caused by his action of telling the ambassador of his plan to attend the rally (thinking that the ambassador's expression of his regret would be an inevitable course of action), and he had come to meet me instead, who had happened to contact him then.

Attending the Rally for Laying a Foundation for the Japanese Government to Resolve the Issue of Sexual Slavery by Japan

What Secretary Nagashim explained to me as to why he had attended the Tokyo rally was far from the comments of the Korean press, such as "the Japanese government showed plain disregard for Korea by allowing its high-ranking officials to attend the Dokdo rally" and "with the overall conservative shift of Japan, it seems that not only the LDP but also the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is attempting to use the Dokdo issue for political purposes."

Japanese political circles are divided into political forces in a sharp conflict with each other in their views on the issue of historical understanding and the 'Japanese Peace Constitution' that is closely connected with it, and in their views on the issue of territorial sovereignty closely related with nationalism.

Often, the conservative forces label the incumbent administration led by the DPJ as a 'left-wing administration,' and denounce the DPJ as a group that possesses 'an understanding of history treacherous to their country' and little, if any, national identity. The conservative political forces, including the LDP, tend to use the territorial sovereignty issue as a good opportunity to attack the DPJ administration. It seems that the right-wingers of Japan intend to hold the 'left-winged' DPJ administration responsible for the instability existing within the Japanese society in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, incite 'nationalism,' and ultimately create a sentiment in favor of amending the constitution. This is implied in the comment of Hiranuma, who said that "they should amend the constitution (forbidding war) and be born again as a true independent country if they were to reclaim Takeshima."