https://www.scmp.com/rss/275630/feed Dokdo - Takeshima are a group of small islets located in the waters between South Korea and Japan which both countries claim sovereignty over. The islets are called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The dispute over who owns the 0.19-square-kilometre territory continues to raise tensions in Japan-South Korean political relations. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Julian Ryall Julian Ryall Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will not send a cabinet minister to an annual ceremony calling for the return of the Liancourt Rocks – known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea – stepping back from an earlier pledge and signalling a softer touch towards Seoul. Analysts say the decision not to dispatch a senior minister to the event reflects a pragmatic effort to steady Japan-South Korea ties, even if it leaves some of her most conservative supporters “very... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3343856/japans-takaichi-steps-back-liancourt-rocks-pledge-sign-softer-line-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3343856/japans-takaichi-steps-back-liancourt-rocks-pledge-sign-softer-line-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Feb 2026 01:30:14 +0000 Park Chan-kyong Park Chan-kyong South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have pledged to deepen bilateral cooperation after Japan’s ruling coalition secured a landslide victory in the lower house election, even as analysts warn that sharpening China-Japan rivalry and unresolved historical disputes could complicate Seoul’s regional diplomacy. The result, which consolidates the Liberal Democratic Party’s grip on power, has strengthened Takaichi’s political position – but also revived... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3343056/south-korea-japan-eye-deeper-ties-after-takaichis-landslide-win-it-feasible?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3343056/south-korea-japan-eye-deeper-ties-after-takaichis-landslide-win-it-feasible?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:13 +0000 Maria Siow Maria Siow Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s revival of Tokyo’s claim to islets whose symbolic weight far outweighs their size has rekindled an old dispute that may play well with nationalist supporters at home, but risks derailing hard-won diplomatic progress abroad. Seoul swiftly shot down Takaichi’s assertion last week that the rocky outcrops, known as Takeshima to Japan and Dokdo to South Korea, belong to Tokyo. “Dokdo is clearly our inherent territory,” the presidential office said in a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3336570/china-likely-celebrating-japan-south-korea-clash-over-islets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3336570/china-likely-celebrating-japan-south-korea-clash-over-islets?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Dec 2025 05:00:11 +0000 SCMP’s Asia desk SCMP’s Asia desk South Korea has rejected Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s renewed claim to disputed islets in the East Sea, setting off the latest round of diplomatic friction over one of the region’s most enduring territorial disputes. A senior official at the presidential office in Seoul said on Tuesday there was no ambiguity about who controlled the rocky outcrops – known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan – describing them as “an integral part of Korean territory historically,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3335923/south-korea-vows-stern-response-japan-renews-claim-disputed-liancourt-rocks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3335923/south-korea-vows-stern-response-japan-renews-claim-disputed-liancourt-rocks?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Dec 2025 10:45:34 +0000 SCMP’s Asia desk SCMP’s Asia desk A Japanese cabinet minister has reiterated his country’s claim to Liancourt Rocks, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, after Seoul protested against a new museum wing promoting Tokyo’s sovereignty over the islets. “Under international law, Takeshima is clearly an inherent part of Japan’s territory,” Japan’s Minister in Charge of Territorial Issues Jiro Akama said at a press conference on Tuesday, according to Kyodo news agency. “We will work to strengthen the dissemination of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3333381/japans-renewed-sovereignty-push-over-disputed-liancourt-rocks-irks-south-korea-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3333381/japans-renewed-sovereignty-push-over-disputed-liancourt-rocks-irks-south-korea-china?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Nov 2025 07:22:06 +0000 Julian Ryall Julian Ryall Tokyo has rescinded a plan to allow South Korean military jets to refuel at a base in Okinawa after learning the aircraft had recently flown near contested islets in the Sea of Japan, a revelation that triggered nationalist anger and concerns about the political risks of closer defence ties between the uneasy neighbours. The now-scrapped refuelling operation would have seen South Korea’s Black Eagles aerobatic team stop over at Naha Air Base in Okinawa en route to an air show in Dubai in early... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3331317/refuel-row-japan-rescinds-airbase-access-south-korean-jets-over-dokdo-islets-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3331317/refuel-row-japan-rescinds-airbase-access-south-korean-jets-over-dokdo-islets-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:12 +0000 Maria Siow Maria Siow As Japan prepares to swear in its first female prime minister, old ghosts of the past are threatening to haunt her leadership. Sanae Takaichi’s hard-edged views on history and national identity have stirred anxieties from Seoul to Beijing, even though analysts believe the former security minister’s stance may be tempered by the realities of fragile coalitions in a volatile region. Takaichi’s election last weekend as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party marked a moment of both historic... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3328214/will-japans-new-pm-reopen-old-war-wounds-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3328214/will-japans-new-pm-reopen-old-war-wounds-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:08 +0000 SCMP’s Asia desk SCMP’s Asia desk The trial of an American content creator whose disruptive and culturally insensitive acts sparked outrage in South Korea has fuelled calls for sterner responses to these so-called nuisance influencers. Johnny Somali, whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael, has been barred from leaving South Korea and faces seven charges, including obstruction of business and violations of the Minor Offences Act, according to local media. Ismael’s earlier charges were relatively minor but at his second hearing... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3312306/johnny-somalis-trial-south-korea-highlights-rising-concern-over-nuisance-influencers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3312306/johnny-somalis-trial-south-korea-highlights-rising-concern-over-nuisance-influencers?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 May 2025 09:17:31 +0000 Park Chan-kyong Park Chan-kyong South Korea’s categorical denial of Japanese media reports that it will conduct its first-ever joint military exercise with Japan highlights the ongoing challenges facing the two countries in strengthening military cooperation, despite growing threats from North Korea and an increasingly assertive China, analysts say. On Tuesday, major Japanese news outlets reported that the South Korean Marine Corps would participate in a joint exercise with the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) as part... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3310416/can-south-korea-japan-forces-train-together-joint-drill-denial-reveals-unresolved-trauma?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3310416/can-south-korea-japan-forces-train-together-joint-drill-denial-reveals-unresolved-trauma?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 May 2025 04:28:26 +0000 Critics have accused South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government of playing into Japan’s narrative on a group of disputed islets that both countries claim, amid pressure from Washington for the two to set aside their historical quarrels and focus on security cooperation in light of an increasingly assertive China. The latest flare-up in tensions over Dokdo, which Japan calls the Takeshima islands, stems from Tokyo’s top diplomat Yoko Kamikawa describing them as “Japanese territory under... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251074/south-korea-adopting-japanese-narratives-disputed-islets-under-yoon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251074/south-korea-adopting-japanese-narratives-disputed-islets-under-yoon?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Feb 2024 04:20:49 +0000 Japan’s vice foreign minister pulled out of a planned news conference with his South Korean and US counterparts in Washington on Wednesday over a territorial dispute between the two countries, a Japanese embassy spokesperson said. US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman was left to answer questions on her own in the absence of South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori, with whom she had just met for three hours. Sherman began by... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3156498/japan-pulls-out-us-news-conference-over-south-korean-police?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3156498/japan-pulls-out-us-news-conference-over-south-korean-police?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Nov 2021 06:52:44 +0000 In a small hotel near the Olympic Village hired out exclusively for their use, a team of South Korean chefs has been cloistered away preparing meals throughout the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for the country’s entire delegation of 232 athletes and 122 officials. The Koreans’ refusal to eat in the same dining hall as the thousands of other foreigners at the Games comes amid ongoing worries in South Korea about the quality of Japanese fish and produce, following the Fukushima nuclear disaster that was... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3144000/tokyo-olympics-japans-south-korea-china-tensions-resurface?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3144000/tokyo-olympics-japans-south-korea-china-tensions-resurface?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Aug 2021 23:00:13 +0000 South Korea is facing mounting pressure to boycott the Tokyo Olympics over an official map that marks a group of disputed islets as Japan’s territory. The Korea-controlled Dokdo islets, which Japan claims and calls Takeshima, are indicated with a barely discernible dot on a map of the Olympic torch relay route found on the International Olympic Committee’s website. South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party on Sunday “strongly” urged Tokyo to amend the map and lambasted the IOC for applying a double... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3135464/calls-grow-south-korea-olympics-boycott-over-disputed-islets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3135464/calls-grow-south-korea-olympics-boycott-over-disputed-islets?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 May 2021 06:17:57 +0000 With patriotic sentiments running high among Koreans against Japan amid diplomatic tension following Japan's trade restrictions, public attention is falling on an old symbol of sovereignty in the East Sea – the Dokdo islets, over which Japan also maintains a territorial claim. Located about 200 kilometres off the country's eastern coast, the Dokdo islets have become a must-see place for Koreans who visit Ulleung Island, a nearby bigger island closer to the mainland, if weather permits. The Dokdo... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3022154/why-are-patriotic-koreans-going-day-trips-dokdo-islets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3022154/why-are-patriotic-koreans-going-day-trips-dokdo-islets?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Aug 2019 08:00:05 +0000 Seoul and Washington began annual joint military exercises on Monday, defying warnings from Pyongyang that the war games will jeopardise nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea. South Korea is also considering going ahead with its twice-yearly maritime drills near a group of islands that it and Japan have competing claims over, Yonhap news agency reported, despite escalating trade tensions with Tokyo. Explained: What’s driving Japan’s escalating feud with South Korea? The... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3021509/south-korea-begins-war-games-boosts-rd-spending-amid-growing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3021509/south-korea-begins-war-games-boosts-rd-spending-amid-growing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Aug 2019 11:47:50 +0000 South Korea has lodged a protest with Japan over a ceremony held to commemorate the Japanese "incorporation" of islets at the centre of a territorial dispute between the two countries. The protest to Hisashi Michigami, minister at the Japanese embassy in Seoul, followed the event in Matsue, the capital of the western Japan prefecture of Shimane, on Saturday, attended by Yoshitami Kameoka, parliamentary secretary with the central government's Cabinet Office. More than a dozen lawmakers also... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1433818/seoul-protests-tokyos-honouring-incorporation-disputed-islets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1433818/seoul-protests-tokyos-honouring-incorporation-disputed-islets?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Feb 2014 20:30:15 +0000 I refer to your editorial ("The world looks at Sino-US talks", March 21). You mentioned that US President Barack Obama will meet the newly-elected Chinese President Xi Jinping possibly in September. Mr Obama will also visit Japan and South Korea during that trip. During his visits he will probably once again urge the leaders of the three countries to try to solve the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute between China and Japan, and the Dokdo/Takashima Island dispute between South Korea and Japan,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1205033/japan-must-give-back-islands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1205033/japan-must-give-back-islands?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A Japanese scholar has branded as "childish" the reactions in South Korea and China to new school textbooks that describe disputed islands as Japanese territory. Japan's Education Ministry on Tuesday approved a range of new textbooks for the school year that starts in April next year, with two geography books and six covering politics and economics stating that the Diaoyu, or Senkaku, islands and the Takeshima islands, which South Korea calls Dokdo, belong to Japan. Hong Lei, spokesman for the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1201296/scholar-calls-reaction-south-korea-and-china-japanese-textbooks-childish?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1201296/scholar-calls-reaction-south-korea-and-china-japanese-textbooks-childish?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 South Korean schoolchildren will receive mandatory classes explaining the nation's claims to ownership of a set of islands that are also claimed by Japan, the education ministry says. Beginning this year, all schools will be required to provide a minimum of 10 hours of classes annually on "the importance of Dokdo", a ministry spokesman said. The South Korea-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan, known to Koreans as the East Sea, are called Takeshima in Japan and are the subject of a decades-old... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1159275/south-korean-schools-teach-about-dokdo-islands-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1159275/south-korean-schools-teach-about-dokdo-islands-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Japan held an annual rally on Friday over Tokyo’s claim to a set of tiny islands controlled by South Korea, which has been at the centre of a long-standing territorial feud. Some 500 people flocked to the event in Shimane prefecture in western Japan, including the highest-ranking Japanese government official ever to attend and local and national politicians. Seoul reacted angrily to the rally and the expected presence of Aiko Shimajiri, a parliamentary secretary in Tokyo’s Cabinet Office, with... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1156126/japan-stages-rally-over-disputed-islands-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1156126/japan-stages-rally-over-disputed-islands-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:24:30 +0000 FIFA has suspended a South Korean player for two international matches over a post-match political gesture at the London Olympics, the South’s football body said on Monday. FIFA’s disciplinary committee has also slapped a fine of 3,500 Swiss francs (US$3,781) on Park Jong-woo following his actions, which relate to an island dispute with Japan, the Korean Football Association (KFA) said. The association itself was warned for failure to properly instruct players on rules of conduct. “We’ve decided... https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1097187/fifa-suspends-s-korean-player-two-matches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1097187/fifa-suspends-s-korean-player-two-matches?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:34:23 +0000 South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan warned yesterday of signs of a rightward shift in Japanese politics, including an increasingly aggressive stance on territorial issues. Kim's remarks followed last week's decision by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to dissolve parliament and call a general election next month. "Overall, the political situation in Japan is showing signs of a rightward shift and some say Japan is increasingly becoming nationalistic," Yonhap news agency quoted the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1088589/south-korean-concerns-ahead-japanese-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1088589/south-korean-concerns-ahead-japanese-election?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Japan's ties with US, China vex Dalai Lama TOKYO - The Dalai Lama lamented the US military presence in Japan during a press conference in Okinawa, where anti-American feeling has flared after alleged crimes by servicemen. "It is not right to have foreign military bases, but such situations unfortunately exist all around the world," the Tibetan spiritual leader said, according to a Jiji Press report. The Dalai Lama also called on Tokyo and Beijing to ease rising diplomatic tensions, saying "China... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1081072/briefs-november-13-2012?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1081072/briefs-november-13-2012?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Japan and South Korea are planning a formal summit later this month, the first meeting since President Lee Myung-Bak angered Tokyo with a surprise visit to a disputed island chain, a report said. Lee's August visit to the islands, which lie between the two countries and are known by South Korea as the Dokdo Islands and by Japan as the Takeshima Islands, badly damaged relations between Tokyo and Seoul. The visit also came at a historically significant time - just days before the August 15... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1080224/japan-south-korea-plan-first-formal-meeting-islands-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1080224/japan-south-korea-plan-first-formal-meeting-islands-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 South Korea is renaming peaks on islands disputed with Japan in an attempt to reassert its sovereignty over the territory after a decades-long dispute flared up again this summer. The row over the Seoul-controlled islands - called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan - boiled over in August when South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made a surprise visit to them. Tokyo said the trip to the islands, the first ever by a South Korean president, was deliberately provocative. The islets are in... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1072041/south-korea-renames-peaks-disputed-dokdo-islands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1072041/south-korea-renames-peaks-disputed-dokdo-islands?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 South Korea said on Sunday it would rename peaks on islands disputed with Japan in an attempt to reassert its sovereignty over the territory after a decades-long dispute flared up again this summer. The two main peaks at the rocky outcrops roughly midway between the two nations will be renamed to highlight historical evidence of the South’s centuries-long ownership, the land ministry said. The row over the Seoul-controlled islands – called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan – boiled over in... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1071780/seoul-rename-peaks-assert-claim-disputed-islands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1071780/seoul-rename-peaks-assert-claim-disputed-islands?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Oct 2012 08:34:37 +0000 South Korea on Thursday lashed out at Google for changing the name of an isolated set of islands at the centre of a territorial dispute with Japan on its English-language web mapping service. The protest came as Seoul and Tokyo are locked in a propaganda war to publicise their respective claims to the islands, known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan. Google recently updated its Google Maps and – on the English-language version – replaced the name of Dokdo with Liancourt Rocks, a name... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1069597/google-drawn-s-korea-japan-island-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1069597/google-drawn-s-korea-japan-island-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Oct 2012 09:42:20 +0000 A group of South Korean lawmakers yesterday visited an isolated set of islands at the centre of a territorial dispute with Japan - prompting an immediate protest from Tokyo. Seventeen members of the parliamentary National Defence Committee flew to the Dokdo islands (known as Takeshima in Japan) on military helicopters for a day-long visit, an aide to committee member Han Ki-ho said. The trip - described as a government inspection session - was aimed at checking security measures around the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1068245/tokyo-protests-south-korean-mps-visit-disputed-islands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1068245/tokyo-protests-south-korean-mps-visit-disputed-islands?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 A group of South Korean lawmakers on Tuesday visited an isolated set of islands at the heart of a territorial dispute with Japan – a move likely to stoke tensions with Tokyo still more. Seventeen members of the parliamentary National Defence Committee flew to the Dokdo islands (known as Takeshima in Japan) on military helicopters for a day-long visit, an aide to committee member Han Ki-Ho said. The trip – labelled a government inspection session – was aimed at checking security measures around... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1067898/south-korean-lawmakers-visit-islands-disputed-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1067898/south-korean-lawmakers-visit-islands-disputed-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:13:51 +0000 A group of Japanese, led by Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe, has issued a statement criticising their government's handling of territorial disputes and urging it to stop its battles with Taiwan and China over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands and with South Korea over the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands. Issued late last month, the statement said Japan annexed Dokdo and the Diaoyus when South Korea and China were too weak to assert diplomatic claims. While the annexation of Dokdo marked the beginning... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1058008/timely-reminder-ills-nationalism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1058008/timely-reminder-ills-nationalism?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000