Invest KOREA

A state-run forestry agency said Sunday it plans to launch a project to restore forests on South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in an effort to reinforce the country's sovereignty over the territory amid Japan's continued attempts to lay claims to the islets.

   The plan by the Korea Forest Service calls for the investment of 182 million won (US$166,813) this year for securing rare species of trees and cultivating them as young trees on the islets to prevent soil erosion from strong sea winds.

   Under a forest restoration proposal for Dokdo, the agency said it has earmarked a budget of 1 billion won for environmental projects by 2014.

   "It will not only help protect the forest ecosystem on Dokdo but also reinforce practical control (over the island)," an official said.

   Earlier this week, Tokyo renewed territorial claims over the islets as it authorized a dozen middle school textbooks portraying Dokdo as Japanese territory. The approval was a bolstering of Japan's territorial claims compared with the previous version of the texts.

   South Korea rejects the claims as nonsense because the country regained independence from Japan's 35-year colonial rule in 1945 and reclaimed sovereignty over its territory, including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula.

   Since 1954, South Korea has stationed a small police detachment on Dokdo.

   Japanese school textbooks laying claims to Dokdo or glorifying the country's wartime past have long been one of the sticking issues that have frayed ties between the two countries as resentment over Japan's colonial rule of Korea still runs deep here.

Source: Yonhap News (April 3, 2011)