The defense ministry said Thursday it has revised its description of Dokdo in its troop education material recalled late last year after it stirred up a controversy by describing the easternmost islets as disputed territory.
In December, the ministry recalled the newly published material and launched an inspection into its drafting process as it listed Dokdo among disputes between major countries around the Korean Peninsula.
Tokyo has repeatedly made territorial claims over the set of rocky islets, which South Korea has consistently rejected, calling the islets an inherent territory of Korea historically, geographically and under international law.
After an eight-month-long revision process, the defense ministry said it has deleted the existing description in the material and added the government’s official stance on the islets, noting that a territorial dispute over Dokdo cannot exist.
The revised material also added Dokdo on 11 maps of the Korean Peninsula that had previously omitted the islets.
The mi
nistry said the new material went through inspections from outside experts, including those from the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and the Northeast Asian History Foundation.
It also revised its description of South Korea’s relations with Japan, adding that it would “sternly” respond to some Japanese political leaders’ “wrongful” territorial claims over Dokdo and their “distorted perception” of history.
The ministry also made changes to the material regarding Rhee Syng-man, South Korea’s first president who led the country during the 1950-53 Korean War.
The original material had described him as having “insight” in stopping communism, but the ministry deleted the word as he has been also accused of being a dictator during his 12-year rule.
The ministry also made a series of other changes, such as including details on the Northern Limit Line (NLL) — the de facto maritime boundary between the two Koreas.
North Korea has never recognized the NLL, demanding that it be drawn farther south.
Source: Yonh
ap News Agency