Dear Stars and Stripes,

I am Jiwoo Park, a 2nd grade student in a Korean high school. I am writing this opinion to request you to correct an error in your article and rebut Japanese claim for Dokdo as its territory.

Your article, “Japan rejects gift of booze from South Korea that contained image of disputed islands” reported by David Choi in Jan 24, 2022 tries to show our Korean position toward this issue as clear as it can be, for which I sincerely appreciate. But I’ve found Japanese basis for its claim in that article as baseless. In brief, Japanese claim ingeniously conceals the obvious historical fact that Japan illegally occupied Korean territory by its annexation during 1905 – 1945. So, I’d like to point out how baseless the Japanese claim quoted in the article is.

The Japanese claim quoted in your article says “Like South Korea, Japan references historical documents and maps to bolster its claim of long-standing ties to the islands. These arguments include a U.S. military memo in 1946 that ordered Japan to cease governance on its main islands and its hundreds of smaller islets, including Takeshima, following its surrender in World War II, according to a Japanese government-run website.”   

The Japanese claim that U.S. military memo in 1946 proves Dokdo originally belonged to Japan because it ordered Japan to cease governance on its islands including Dokdo is shameless and bold in itself. Their intention underneath this claim is that they attained sovereignty of the island legitimately. But, it was in the year of 1905 when the incorporation occurred. That was the time when Japanese imperialists took the diplomatic sovereignty of Korea by force. Korea was completely annexed by Japan during 1910-1945. So, they should return every territory that illegally annexed during its colonial period back to Korea after World War II. We Koreans think the Japanese claim as nonsense just like a thief shamelessly claims for the stolen property after arrest.

Thank you very much for reading through my writing. I hope my explanation above about historical background must be added in the article not to mislead the readers of a renowned news site as Stars and Stripes. I also hope that you would take serious research toward Dokdo issue based on historical facts. I wish your site best luck.