Sankei Shimbun Again Claims “Dokdo Is Japanese Territory” on Takeshima Day

Claiming "Illegal Occupation by South Korea"
Demanding the Government Upgrade the Event

The conservative Japanese media outlet Sankei Shimbun claimed that Dokdo is Japanese territory, coinciding with the Takeshima Day event hosted by Shimane Prefecture.

In an editorial titled "We Call for a Government-Hosted Event" on the 22nd, Sankei argued that "Takeshima is inherently Japanese territory and has been illegally occupied by South Korea for more than 70 years," demanding that Japan seek its return from South Korea. The newspaper has published an editorial on Dokdo every year to coincide with Takeshima Day.

Sankei asserted that since the Edo period, which began in the 17th century, Japan had used Dokdo as a fishing relay base, but that in modern times South Korea drew the so-called "Syngman Rhee Line" and unjustly took Dokdo.

'Takeshima Day' event held in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. Yonhap News

Sankei also pointed out that "the Japanese government has been sending the prime minister and cabinet ministers to the Northern Territories Day event on February 7, but has only sent a parliamentary secretary of the Cabinet Office, who is at the vice-ministerial level, to Takeshima Day." It went on to insist that "sending a video message from the prime minister to the event could be one option, but nothing is better than the attendance of the prime minister and cabinet ministers themselves."

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi mentioned the need for cabinet-level attendance during the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, but for this event a parliamentary secretary, rather than cabinet ministers, attended in line with existing practice.

Regarding this, Kyodo News analyzed that "it appears that the Japanese government took South Korea into consideration, given that the trend of improving Japan-South Korea relations is continuing."

On February 22, 1905, Shimane Prefecture unilaterally issued a public notice incorporating Dokdo into its administrative district, and in 2005, to mark the 100th anniversary of that notice, it designated February 22 as "Takeshima Day."

Since 2013, the Japanese government has been dispatching a parliamentary secretary to the annual Takeshima Day event, and the South Korean government has each year lodged strong protests over this and urged that the event be discontinued.