The metro operator in Incheon, west of Seoul, said Wednesday it will install a photo zone featuring South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo at a subway station after a similar photo zone was removed last year.

The announcement came after Seoul’s metro operator came under criticism that its removal of miniaturized structures of Dokdo from some subway stations could be seen as an act that undermines South Korea’s commitment to the country’s sovereignty over the East Sea islets that Japan has long laid claims to.

Incheon Transit Corp. announced the plan to complete the installation of photo zones featuring the Dokdo islets in the background at Central Park Station on the city’s subway line 1 by October.

The move comes nearly 1 1/2 years after the Dokdo photo zone installed at Ganseok Ogeori Station was removed in April last year after a man in his 60s set fire to the man-made garden next to the subway platform in Seongnam Station.

The subway operator at the time explained that it had removed the artificia
l gardens and the photo zone, which are made from combustible materials, for the sake of public safety.

However, the Incheon Network for Peace and Welfare, a local civic group, claimed that the subway operator had eliminated what it called the “spirit of Dokdo” under the pretext of risk of fire, saying that a TV set promoting South Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo was also removed along with the photo zone.

The civic group called on the Incheon Metropolitan Council to look into the issue.

The Incheon subway operator denied that its decision has anything to do with the controversy in Seoul, saying the decision to set up photo zones at Central Park Station was the outcome of internal discussion.

Source: Yonhap News Agency