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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Korea - Japan Tensions |
| 2005-03-09 |
| March 9, 2005: South Korea says it is willing to sacrifice good relations with Japan over the issue of who owns the uninhabited Dokdo (Takeshima to the Japanese) islands in the Sea of Hapan (East Sea in Korean). What is really going on here is continued Korean resentment of Japanese colonial occupation from 1910-45, and centuries of Japanese aggression towards Korea. March 8, 2005: South Korea sent four F-5 fighters to intercept a Japanese plane attempting to fly over the Dokdo (Takeshima to the Japanese) islands both South Korea and Japan claim. The Japanese, a Cessna C-560 Citation plane turned back.  A major Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun. sent the aircraft to photograph the uninhabited islands. The Japanese aircraft turned around when it received order, via radio, to do so.  Are the Koreans really choosing to go with China? |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #5 "Wako" pirates - group of marauders, originally largely Japanese who from the 13th century raided China and Korea. |
| Posted by: Thrainter Cliling3962 2005-03-09 11:45:32 AM |
| #4 The Japanese haven't really made any friends on the mainland over the last few centuries. I seem to recall the common chinese reference to the Japanese meaning something like "offshore pirates"... |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-03-09 11:36:33 AM |
| #3 If South Korea survives they'll end up with nukes after the messy unification. They should cool their heals with the anti-Japanese crap until then. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-03-09 10:15:58 AM |
| #2 I suspect this is like the Irish and the Brits. Lots of squabbles in public but close in many important respects. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-03-09 9:58:15 AM |
| #1 There is a lot of cultural deep down resentment, sort of on the level you saw in the Balkans. Korea has been the Belgium of NE Asia stuck between China and Japan for centuries with repeated invasions from the island kingdom. Old say goes something like, When whales fight, shrimps' backs are broken. The treatment of the Koreans during the last occupation was pretty much a cultural genocide intended to Nipponize the land and the people. Those who resisted were killed or driven to exile. The young generation of S.Korea, like the mind dead university crowds in the US who eat up anti-US indoctrination, keep blaming the US for the division of Korea, failing to acknowledge that by Nov 1951, the US and the UN had pretty much reunited the country only to have about a quarter of a million Chinese intervene. So what else is new? |
| Posted by: Thrainter Cliling3962 2005-03-09 9:45:20 AM |