This is just crazy:
Following reports that a small group of right-wing Japanese activists would attempt to land a boat on Tokto and claim the tiny islands in Japan’s name, South Korea issued an emergency alert yesterday and ordered the National Maritime Police to protect Korea’s territorial waters in the East Sea around Tokto.
In reaction to the report from Japan, two helicopters, five large naval vessels, five rubber boats and 15 commandos stationed near the islands were told to prepare for duty.
Four members of a Japanese group called Nihon Shidokai attempted to go by boat to Tokto yesterday, but were detained by authorities in the harbor at Etomo, near the west coast Japanese city of Matsue.
A South Korean government official said, “We are closely watching the movements of this [right-wing] group and have requested the Japanese government help prevent their sailing to Tokto.”
Off the eastern coast of the peninsula, Tokto has been the center of a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan for half a century.
I have to wonder whether this is the same group that attempted to land on the Senkaku Islands last month. If it is, at the rate they’re going, their expertise in amphibious landings might just qualify them as the Japanese Marine Corps.
Needless to say, this is just stupid and the Japanese government should make sure these wackos don’t set sail, even if I’m sure many of the Koreans calling for “strong measures” against the Japanese protesters were calling for Japanese “restraint” and condemning Japanese “high-handedness” when Tokyo took measures to deal with Chinese protesters landing on the Senkaku Islands.
6 Comments
If it is, at the rate they’re going, their expertise in amphibious landings might just qualify as the Japanese Marine Corps. - Marmot
Hahaha, I can’t stop laughing.
It seems like most Japanese politicians wish these knuckleheads would just give up and go away while Korean politicians are perpetually on edge just waiting for things to piss them off and get riled up.
‘it seems like most japanese politicians wish these knuckleheads would just give up and go away.’ neil
‘tokdo (tohkootooh in japanese) belongs to japan.’ koizumi
neil, i hope the prime minister of japan just gives up and let’s this issue go away. how about you?
btw, everyone, msnbc.com has a feature on the korean film industry. it’s in the international section i believe. anyway, if any of you can break away from finding the dirt on the koreans and discovering every which way to blame them instead of the japanese, go and read the article. enjoy the positive of korea.
lastly, hats off to you, mr marmot, for that fine piece you did regarding korea’s future alliances.
“In reaction to the report from Japan, two helicopters, five large naval vessels, five rubber boats and 15 commandos stationed near the islands were told to prepare for duty.”
Which is wackier, the four Japanese activists’ attempt to land on the islet or the Korean government’s reaction to them?
The Korean government and media seem to have been trying to provoke a fight with the Japanese over Dokdo for the past several months. It is almost like they want an incident.
Wikipedi: Liancourt Rocks
Which is wackier, the four Japanese activists’ attempt to land on the islet or the Korean government’s reaction to them?
Without a doubt, the Korean reaction too it. All they needed to do is send a single coast guard cutter out there to turn them away. Four freaks on a civilian boat don’t require that kind of force. Surprised they haven’t started buzzing the rocks with F-16s.
Will post on this later today after everything comes to pass.
The MSNBC story was the NEWSWEEK cover story for Asia last week.
-Haisan
PING:
TITLE: Asia by blog
BLOG NAME: Simon World
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