S. Korean lawmakers to visit Washington over Dokdo issue

SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- A bipartisan group of South Korean legislators will meet with U.S. officials in Washington this week in a bid to reaffirm sovereignty over the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo with the incoming U.S. administration, officials here said Thursday.

The lawmakers, who were to leave for Washington later Thursday, belong to the
National Assembly's special committee on Dokdo, which was established in July
following Japan's renewed claim over the South Korean islets in the East Sea.
Dokdo, located in the seas between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, has been a
longtime irritant in Seoul-Tokyo relations, with Japan keen to draw international
attention to the issue. The South Korean government rarely voiced strong
criticism of Japan's provocative claims in the past so as not to lend legitimacy
to their case.
"We plan to make sure that the incoming Barack Obama administration clearly
acknowledges Dokdo as South Korea's land, thereby not making mistakes such as
wrongly defining or naming the islets," Won Yoo-chul, who will be leading the
delegation, said.
Won was referring to an averted move by the U.S. Library of Congress in July to
change the name of the Dokdo islets to Liancourt Rocks, considered a more neutral
name by the agency. The library postponed the decision, however, citing lack of
information and the sensitivity of the issue.
The parliamentary delegation plans to meet with Larry Niksch, an Asia specialist
for the U.S. Congressional Research Service, as well as U.S. Assemblymen Scott
Garrett and Madeleine Bordallo during their visit.
Their schedule will also include attending the launching ceremony of an
organization of Korean-Americans who have been striving to promote Seoul's
ownership of Dokdo overseas.
Japan has long attempted to claim sovereignty over the islets by calling
international attention to the issue, citing its unilateral declaration of
ownership a century ago following its victory in a war with Russia. South Korea
has stationed police contingents on the islets for five decades to enforce its
ownership.
Tokyo renewed its claim in July after releasing a new teacher's manual for middle
and high school students describing Dokdo as "disputed" territory, suggesting
that the islets do not belong to South Korea.
The provocation was the first time Tokyo raised the matter since the launch of
South Korea's conservative Lee Myung-bak administration in February.