Beeman aside, an interesting analysis; “Tokdo or Takeshima? The International Law of Territorial Acquisition in the Japan-Korea Island Dispute” (PDF). The author concludes that South Korea has a stronger claim than Japan.
A bit dated, but Yoelchae's write up on his trip to Kaesong in October is well worth the read.
- #New additions are: Andrei Lankov's blog (translated version via DPRK Forum); Saber Fencer; The Grand Narrative; Korea in Focus; KoreaArticle, and; Information Dissemination.
- #Via CNN: "An Iranian woman, blinded by a jilted stalker who threw acid in her face, has persuaded a court to sentence him to be blinded with acid himself under Islamic law demanding an eye for an eye... Her attacker... admitted throwing acid in her face in November 2004."
- #In an article at the Asia Times, Riddles and enigmas from North Korea, Andrei Lankov speculates on how governments get intelligence from inside North Korea, and lists some of the other valuable sources of information from the country.
- #
June 7th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
The author of that article seems to cite a large number of Korean sources, with his only Japanese source being a Foreign Ministry press conference and the Foreign ministry’s English language homepage.
I also recall reading a Japanese site that said he was part Korean (may be false).
June 7th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I had no idea of his ethnicity before you asked. A few searches finds claims that he is part Korean, but I don’t take anonymous comments to seriously. I did find the usual attack-the-messenger mud-slinging in some cached Wikipedia page. The sources cited that really matter are those pertaining to related international case law, I believe. I’ll guess he’s not too popular in Japan.
June 7th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
To his credit, he stated up front who he feels has the stronger claim, and his arguments are stated reasonably. I’m sure the Takeshima proponents can muster equally articulate advocates. Let the courts decide. (Or perhaps it should be awarded to France a la the Clippertons?)
June 8th, 2007 at 1:41 am
lirelou:
Yes, let the courts decide. That’s exactly what Japan has been calling for, and what Korea has been rejecting.
June 8th, 2007 at 7:43 am
On one hand I agree – let the courts decide. On the other I see Korea’s point that they already posses the rocks so why take even a remote risk of losing? BTW, even though I think Korea has the better claim on Dokdo, I’m for “Sea of Japan” rather than “East Sea.”
June 9th, 2007 at 5:30 am
While I understand the Korea’s logic that “they already posses the rocks so why take even a remote risk of losing?” but doesn’t that completely undermine the entire court system? Imagine if someone was sued for something and they didn’t go to court because they have a ‘remote risk’ of losing…
I can’t wait until Korea wants to take China to court over their various issues and China refuses because they do not stand to gain anything by going.