South Korean Parliamentary Committee Issues Resolution To Remove Dokdo From Tokyo Olympics Map

Kapal patrol police Korea Selatan of Dokdo. (Wikimedia Commons / Ulleungdont)

JAKARTA - A South Korean Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning Japan's new claim to sovereignty over South Korea's easternmost islands of Dokdo on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics map.

Dokdo, located in the East Sea, appears on a torch relay route map uploaded on the Tokyo Olympics website, in a clear territorial claim to the South Korean islands by the Japanese government.

The National Assembly Cultural Committee held a plenary session and passed a resolution condemning the Japanese Olympic Committee for including Dokdo as part of Japan in the torch relay route map. The resolution was supported by 234 bipartisan MPs.

In the resolution, lawmakers described the inclusion of Dokdo on the map as a move that violates South Korean sovereignty, regresses Seoul-Tokyo relations and calls for the immediate removal of Dokdo from the map.

The resolution also calls on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to take proactive action against the map controversy, and also emphasizes the need for the South Korean Government to engage in diplomacy with Japan and the IOC on the matter.

Dokdo has long been a recurring source of tension between the two neighbours, as Tokyo continues to claim islands in the East Sea, which have been under Seoul's effective control since Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1910-45.

Recently, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he believed the 18th century map shown to him by the Spanish Senate Library shows Dokdo Island has always been part of South Korea, called Cheong Wa Dae or South Korea's Presidential Office.

Launching the Korea Herald on Thursday, June 17, this statement was issued while President Moon was in Spain, following a visit in Austria and previously attending the Group 7 (G7) Summit of Countries in the UK, last weekend.

The map, produced in the 1730s and believed to be the oldest drawn by Europeans, shows Dokdo Island as part of Joseon, the kingdom that predated modern Korea, the presidential office said.