This land is your land, this land is my land...

This post is an addendum to previous posts on Dokdo. It is interesting to see how this small island can brew up so much attention in Korea and Japan. Koreans and Japanese go back and forth claiming that Dokdo belongs to them. To much of my knowledge, I thought Dokdo was an uninhabitable island. However, there's always someone who can prove you wrong. I was searching for anything remotely interesting about Dokdo besides so many Koreans and Japanese are obsessed about their ownership of this rocky island. Based on the facts present on wikipedia, approximately 900 Koreans and 2000 Japanese list Dokdo as their permanent residence. However, only TWO (or may be 3) people actually live there.

Dokdo Hosts First Civilians in a Decade
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

A 66-year-old fisherman and his wife moved into a house built on one of the islets of Dokdo Sunday, becoming the first civilians in nearly a decade to call the small islands as home.

Dokto, a rocky set of islets off Korea’s eastern coast, has been the subject of political tension between Korea and Japan in recent years, with Tokyo renewing its claims the islets are part of its territory.

It took nearly 10 years years for Kim Sung-do and his wife Kim Shin-yul, 68, to return to the small islets they had called home for a few years since 1991. The couple moved fgrom Dokdo in 1996, after the pier facility they used was destroyed by storm, and have been living on a neighboring island, Ullung-do.

The couple will soon have a neighbor in Pyung Bu-kyung, a 55-year-old poet, who plans to move to Dokdo sometime in April.

With its political tension with Japan over Dokdo escalating, the Ministry of Maritime Affaires and Fisheries spent 1.7 billion won ($1.75 million) to build a four-room house and repair the port facilities to lure civilian residents to the islets.

Relations between Korea and Japan had been strained in recent years over aspects of history, with the spat over Dokdo, which Japan calls Takeshima, being at the center of the dispute.

Last year, the Shimane prefecture on Japan’s west coast passed an ordinance celebrating Takeshima Day, triggering anger from the Korea.
02-19-2006 22:35

It is interesting to note that despite so many Koreans and Japanese say that Dokdo belongs to Korea and Japan, respectably, people are reluctant to pack their bags and move to Dokdo. Although Dokdo is a small island, you would think that if you were to claim this place as your place of residence, you would at least take the initiatives to build a life there. Because it is easier said than done, people would rather argue passively (this isn't an oxymoron) than to be at the forefront of the Dokdo invasion. Therefore, the dispute over this tiny island ensues.

One possible outlet for espousing the zeal for territory expansion can be the media. Television shows such as the Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-sin and Jumong both deal with defending one's country while planning and executing strategic agenda to expand Korea. The them of territorial expansion has been an ostensible theme throughout Korean epic dramas. Koreans' obsession over war heroes and their accomplishments can be due to the fact that they pride in honor and dignity. The fact that these individuals were able to accomplish tasks beyond what is imaginable in today's society seems to engender nationalism. In my opinion, these epic dramas celebrate Korean history by taking advantage of the fact that the media attracts a large audience. It inculcates and entertains people about Korean nationalism, which involves the significance of one's geographic expansion in the context of history.