That Island Japan and Korea are Fighting About

[The Janken King]

Regarding That Island Japan and Korea are Fighting About can anyone give me the inside scoop on it, who do you reckon has rights to it?

[observer]

That is a dangerous territory... I promise that if we talk about such a sensitive issue too long, somebody is gonna get verbally shot... It is like asking, "So which side should own Jerusalem, is it the Israelis or the Palestinians?" So I say, let's not go there...

(If you do want to know more about it, I suggest you check out information coming from both sides of the story, not just one side...)

As for who has rights to it?

The way I see it...

God.

[jonnyrobinson]

Hey, it's a good job Britain doesn't have a claim on the place or a task force would have been sent by now, complete with submarines, paras and SAS. We Brits tend to get rather worked up about insignificant lumps of rock that no sane person would ACTUALLY want to live on... 250 dead Brits and 700 dead Argentians can testify to that:-(

[Shonai Ben]

It's just a rock in the ocean.
Basically the seagulls own it.
It's not worth getting upset over imo....

[madmaxxam]

It's just a rock in the ocean.
Basically the seagulls own it.
It's not worth getting upset over imo....

They ain't upset about the rock... they don't give a ____ about the rock. It's the fishing around the rock that's important. I believe there's good fishing (or other resources) out there, so that's what this is essentially all about.

[Shonai Ben]

How big would a fishing zone be around a little rock in the ocean?
I would think intl fishing boundaries would overlap this entire area.
Still a tempest in a tea pot imo...

[waller]

That is a dangerous territory... I promise that if we talk about such a sensitive issue too long, somebody is gonna get verbally shot... It is like asking, "So which side should own Jerusalem, is it the Israelis or the Palestinians?" So I say, let's not go there...

(If you do want to know more about it, I suggest you check out information coming from both sides of the story, not just one side...)

As for who has rights to it?

The way I see it...

God.

I totally agree with you. If it"s controversial or likely to make waves, we shouldn"t discuss it. Quite right!

[observer]

I typically enjoy good controversial topic, but not this kind of one. It is a territorial dispute where two parties either justifiably or unjustifiably think they have been wronged - over a bunch of rocks. I have seen too many flame wars waged over these rocks scattered over Asia all in the grand names of "our people", "our fish", "our gas", so to be frank I don't have much appetite for it. If discussion will simply lead to more divisions among people, then no thanks, I will take my leave. (If you guys want to discuss it, that's fine. But be forewarned - there is more to this issue than meets the eye, so I recommend be very diplomatic...)

Besides, aren't there more important issues to be worried about? Like North Korean nuclear crisis or national economies? What a way to divert attentions...

Anyhow, I don't wish to feed this thread any more - kinda depressing - , so I will see you folks on other threads... Time to vote for beer and sex!

[waller]

Yeah but I think it is good to know about these things. That island may very well become the centre of a dispute which could lead to war, if it suits the parties involved. Whether the details of whose it is and why they are fighting over it may seem stupid to outsiders is kind of immaterial. Ever heard of a sillly little incident in the Gulf of Tonkin?

[mcalpine]

Those islands belong to Japan and those Korean B**stards can go to hell as far as I'm concerned !

McTojo

[donpaulo]

well firstly possession is 9/10ths of the law. The korean police force keeps a garrison on the island, so in effect its a korean island.
It has more to do with the fishing rights around the island, than the island itself. So the issue isn't going to go away any time soon.
Whats of a greater concern is the pending fight for energy resources in the "yellow" sea. The Chinese continue to dig wells while the Japanese continue to proclaim the area as belonging to Japan. Its a touchy issue since energy will be in short supply within our lifetime (unless its nuclear)
Lets hope that cooler heads and calmer international relations can calm the murky waters between these asian rivals.

[madmaxxam]

How big would a fishing zone be around a little rock in the ocean?
I would think intl fishing boundaries would overlap this entire area.
Still a tempest in a tea pot imo...

Well, I believe a country 'owns' a certain amount of ocean a given distance from any of it's land, like 3 miles, 5km, or so, which would effectively trump international fishing boundaries. Also, depending on reefs or such in the area, it might be really good fishing. There are probably lots of issues, but I don't really care about them. I'm just saying there's probably a good reason they're fighting about this. The amount of resources, or strategical advantage of the islands are probably more than most gaijin might think.

[The Janken King]

I didn`t really want to stir up a controversy merely get some history cause they never give you any background on the news - a Japanese guy told me that is has always been Japanese but they had to hand it over to the Koreans after WW II

[currypanman]

it's mine!

[richard]

Well it is basically a bunch of rocks and they were ignored for a very long time but now things such as fishing rights, and possible underground oil/gas/mineral drilling rights come into the picture. If those islands are eventually recognized as belonging to one or the other, then that country can include it in its economic zone and claim rights accordingly. Of course the whole matter has now become clouded with the current textbook issue and the natural distrust that has been and is always just beneath the surface, comes bubbling to the surface one again. The same thing goes for the islands that Japan and China are also disagreeing over. Both these pieces of territory are very testy issues and probably will not be resolved (if ever) for a very long time.