'Destroy Japanese ships heading for Dokdo'

'Destroy Japanese ships heading for Dokdo'

www.koreatimes.co.kr

Roh Moo-hyun instructed the military to destroy unauthorized Japanese ships heading for Dokdo while in office, a close aide to the late President said Friday.

This indicates that President Lee Myung-bak’s predecessor braced for the worst possible diplomatic relations with Japan to thwart the neighboring country’s territorial ambitions of Korea’s easternmost islets.

The revelation came amid escalating criticism of the government’s stance of dealing with the issue in a low key manner.

Kim Byung-joon, a former senior presidential secretary for policy planning, said in an articl

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is not good. Both are allies, both have US military bases, and both are armed, and staffed with US military soldiers and officers.
What I can't understand is that S. Korea tolerates N Korea's missile attacks, sinking their ships, hit squads that are sent in by Kim Jung Ill, and N Korean snipers taking pot shots at their people. But Japan sends some fishing vessels and look out, WW3!. I don't think were getting the full story here.

www.koreatimes.co.kr
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by Violater1
But Japan sends some fishing vessels and look out, WW3!. I don't think were getting the full story here.

Simply look at what happened in Korea during WW2

reply to post by Violater1

Among considered measures for destruction was using a Korean military ship to ram the targeted vessel from Japan, Kim recounted.

This isn't much ``destroying`` anything... ramming boats is common in Asia... China and Japan do it all the time.

Now if SKorea actually thought about launching anti-ship missiles then it would have been ``destroying``... the headline is blowing it all out of proportion.

Originally posted by Violater1

'Destroy Japanese ships heading for Dokdo'

www.koreatimes.co.kr
Roh Moo-hyun instructed the military to destroy unauthorized Japanese ships heading for Dokdo while in office, a close aide to the late President said Friday.

Hasn't he been dead for a couple of years now?

anyway, the dokdo/takeshima/ liancourt rocks thing is one of the more maddening pieces of perennial saber rattling that goes on in this part of the world.

Long story short: japan claimed them, SK took them by force during the korean war. both countries have claims and maps and so on going back several hundred years.

japan maintains their claim, and outside of the koreas the ownership of the rocks is considered to be in dispute, and likely will remain so until both countries can agree to settle it at the ICJ.

in the meantime, korea uses dokdo as a political rallying point - whenever Japan mentions their claim, it provides a nice diversion from whatever is going on in korea at the moment. Like in 2008, when the massive protests against US beef imports that threatened to take down the government magically transformed into nationalist anti-japan protests.

Or how now, coming into election time in SK, a few opposition Japanese lawmakers stage a trip to a museum on a nearby SK island and are deported with great fanfare at a time when the SK government desperately needed a boost in the polls.

it's almost as though it's planned sometimes...

reply to post by vox2442

Brinksmanship or not, I would think that any government that would be saber rattling right now, should consider the turmoil that is going on world wide.
Not a good idea.
Here is a response from The Japan Times,"Kim Byung Joon, who was then chief of the presidential office's policy planning bureau, wrote in an online article posted Aug. 12 on a website commemorating Roh that the president "ordered the Japanese research vessels be pushed and broken if they come to Dokdo."

"Under the order, the coast guard had made full preparations," he said.

search.japantimes.co.jp...

This was what was said by a dead ex-president 5 years ago--dunno how this is any breaking news.
As long for the island, it rightfully belongs to Korea, as it was theirs throughout history. (Even Japanese maps marks it as Korean land)

But all set aside this is nothing new. This kind of tension has been present for hundreds of years, nothing peace-threatening.

Originally posted by Truthisnear
This was what was said by a dead ex-president 5 years ago--dunno how this is any breaking news.
As long for the island, it rightfully belongs to Korea, as it was theirs throughout history. (Even Japanese maps marks it as Korean land)

But all set aside this is nothing new. This kind of tension has been present for hundreds of years, nothing peace-threatening.

This was in today's addition of the Korean and Japanese News papers. Please take the time to Read the snippet, and Read the links.
Thank you for your response.

They better stop..we all know what happened last time JAPAN got pissed off at the other asian countries

After what the japs did to the rest of Asia, they should lose any right to claim land other than their mainland Islands. I would support Korea if it decided to defend the islands with force.

Originally posted by Violater1


This is not good. Both are allies, both have US military bases, and both are armed, and staffed with US military soldiers and officers.
What I can't understand is that S. Korea tolerates N Korea's missile attacks, sinking their ships, hit squads that are sent in by Kim Jung Ill, and N Korean snipers taking pot shots at their people. But Japan sends some fishing vessels and look out, WW3!. I don't think were getting the full story here.

www.koreatimes.co.kr
(visit the link for the full news article)

No, I think it's you who is forgetting or just doesn't know about key facts regarding North Korea.
North Korea has that much artillery pointed at Seoul, that if war broke out, Seoul would be obliterated. I think the estimate is that within the hour Seoul would be devastated.

However, more importantly then that, North Koreas antics are aimed at winning concessions from the South and from the Americans.
Remember the artillery barrage of the South Korean island not long ago? The South responded with a threat of war if it happened again. North Korea has been quiet since.

Japan on the other hand is a different story.

It's geopolitical interests at stake.