Park Yong-jin: "Tokyo Olympics' Dokdo marked as Japanese territory is unacceptable... Must be deleted immediately"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Park Yong-jin, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who has announced his candidacy for the presidential election, stated on the 30th, "The act of marking Dokdo as Japanese territory on the Tokyo Olympics website is absolutely unacceptable. It must be deleted immediately."

On the same day, Park said on his Facebook, "Japan's act of marking Dokdo as Japanese territory on the Tokyo Olympics website is an unacceptable infringement of sovereignty and a foolish act that undermines the Olympic spirit."

He added, "With the spread of COVID-19 within Japan causing debates over the cancellation of the Olympics even domestically and raising concerns about the safety of athletes, I do not understand why Japan is making such a self-defeating move. Unless they have no intention of successfully hosting the Olympics, they should stop political acts that provoke neighboring countries."

Park emphasized, "If Japan still says it hopes for the success of the Tokyo Olympics despite this, it deserves to be condemned for serious double standards. The Japanese government and the Japanese Olympic Committee should respond to the goodwill of the Korean government and people who decided to participate in the Tokyo Olympics despite various difficulties by deleting the Dokdo notation before the issue escalates further."

Park particularly criticized the attitude of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He said, "The IOC must take a clear stance on Japan's wrongful actions and attitude. Our government accepted the IOC's recommendation to remove the Dokdo notation from the Korean Peninsula flag during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. That was truly a decision made from a magnanimous perspective." He warned, "However, even though the same issue has occurred again, the IOC's irresponsible attitude of showing no position and passing the responsibility to Japan is a big mistake. If they do not want to ruin the Tokyo Olympics, they must play an active role."

Park continued, "The government and the Olympic Committee should convey a firm position on this matter to the IOC and the Japanese government and strive to ensure that the IOC takes a clear stance."