By In-Soo Nam
South Korean visits to disputed islets controlled by Seoul but also claimed by Tokyo have jumped, a reflection of Koreans’ increased interest in heading to the rocky outcrops as the standoff with Japan has escalated.
- Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
- South Korean tourists arrive on the Korean-controlled islands last week.
The journey from Seoul to the islets, called Dokdo by Korea and Takeshima in Japan, is a march of hardship. Getting there in a day involves a night bus ride, followed by two bumpy boat journeys of more than two hours each. That’s for a 20-minute stay on the islets, known internationally as the Liancourt Rocks.
And if the weather is bad, travelers aren’t allowed to land on the islets once they arrive.
Despite the tough travel, however, the number of tourists, almost all Koreans, keeps rising.
The islets drew almost 3,000 visitors a day last week, during which Korea celebrated the anniversary of its 1945 liberation from Japanese colonial rule. In the past few years, tourist visits in the Liberation Day week were between 1,000 and 1,500, according to the local authorities.
For other months of year, visitors usually average 500 to 1,000 a day.
“Dokdo is difficult to access by every measure. Nevertheless, (Korean) people keep coming to show their affection. And the number is rising,” said Koh Tae-kwon, a local tour guide.
On a visit last week, an old lady shouted “Hurrah Dokdo!” as she touched the ground after landing on the islets. Her friends were busy taking pictures of themselves waving national flags and showing off a banner that read “Beautiful Land of Ours, Dokdo.”
There were also groups of high school students wearing shirts with an inscription of “Love Dokdo” on their back.
Since the islets opened to the public in 2005, they have become a favorite location not just for tourists but also for activists and politicians on days reminiscent of Japan’s 35-year colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The dispute between Tokyo and Seoul flared up in August last year, when then-South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited them, becoming the first president to do so. Tokyo strongly protested the trip as being deliberately provocative.
This year, Rep. Kim Han-gil, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party and a slew of party leaders visited the islets last week to commemorate the Liberation Day.
With armed guards stationed on the island since the 1950s, Kim Sung-do, an old fisherman, and his wife are the only permanent residents there.
The number of tourist visits to the islets surged to 205,778 last year from 41,134 in 2005.
