뉴스레터

Dokdo is the Shangri-la of patriotism in my heart; just hearing its name makes me very emotional and want to cry out something.

My special feeling for Dokdo has something to do with the island's history and international power relations surrounding the Korean peninsula that I learned growing up. Back in the 1980s, we learned all there was to know about Dokdo from the lyrics of popular song 'Dokdo Is Our Land' because visiting Dokdo was not possible at that time. You could almost call yourself a master of Dokdo if you knew the lyrics by heart and could sing the song from beginning to end. Today, anyone willing to spend time and money to do so can visit Dokdo, if the weather permits. But I was 'too busy' to visit Dokdo. Besides, making a family trip to Dokdo would cost me a lot of money, even if it was the cheapest travel package available online.

Fortunately, in today's age of advanced technology, there are time- and money-saving alternatives to visiting Dokdo. For example, at Dokdo Museum Seoul in the NAHF office building, Dokdo is brought to life in a 1/20th scale miniature. And the Dokdo Jirinet website (http://dokdo.ngii.go.kr) offers a '3D' view of every corner of the island. Or just type 'Dokdo' in any online search engine, and it will return more than enough pictures and information about the island, including its geography and history.

In other words, in today's age of advanced technology, it is possible that those who have never set foot on Dokdo know more about the island than those who have actually been there. But Dokdo is like the Mona Lisa. You can't say, "I have seen the Mona Lisa," unless you have actually been to the Louvre and seen the authentic Mona Lisa. Looking at a copy of the Mona Lisa in your living room doesn't count. Even the authentic 'Mona Lisa' isn't perfect. Similarly, I felt that visiting Dokdo Museum Seoul and Dokdo Jirinet and getting information about Dokdo online wasn't just enough. One day, I was lucky enough to have a chance to join a NAHF-sponsored 3-day (May 1-3) trip to Ulleungdo and Dokdo.

The trip began at 3 am on May 1, 2013, when our party took a bus to Mukho, a port city on the east coast, where we boarded an express liner for Ulleungdo at 8:20 am. The sea rolled, and many of the passengers got seasick. One in our party found the trip by sea so arduous that he ended up giving up going all the way to Dokdo.

Once we arrived and checked into our lodging in Ulleungdo, we took a tour of the island, following in the footsteps of Lee Gyu-won, the inspector from the Joseon period who laid a foundation for exploring Ulleungdo by documenting his inspection of the island. In the afternoon the next day, we boarded the Dokdo Peace at the Sadong port of Ulleundo for a two-hour voyage to Dokdo.

Dokdo is Korea's easternmost island, 87.4 kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo, with its peaks 168.5 meters (Seodo (West Island)) and 98.6 meters (Dongdo (East Island)) high above sea level, respectively. But its history runs much deeper than that, and always brings out emotions in me.

Indeed, there was nothing like the original. Dokdo Museum Seoul didn't have the 'black-tailed gulls' that welcomed the visitors at Dokdo, although I didn't think the birds actually liked them. And there were legendary features of Dokdo in every corner the island we visited, including the stone engraved with 韓國領 (Korean Territory). I saw them for the first time, but none of them looked unfamiliar. Suddenly, I missed my family. I wished I had brought my wife and 5-year-old daughter with me. If I had, my experience of visiting Dokdo would have been more exciting and perfect. As if to make it up for myself, I took a lot of pictures of Dokdo to show them as I walked up the 70-degree slope. And I decided, "Next time, I'll come with my family."

We were on Dokdo for no longer than an hour, but the excitement of visiting the island still lingered in my mind on our way back to Ulleungdo. I felt as though I had the privilege to have visited an uncharted new world. When I closed my eyes, I could see an old boy singing 'Dokdo Is Our Land.' Did our party notice a faint smile on my lips? I still wonder.