US reverses decision on name of islands disputed by Japan and South Korea

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-31  |     ONLINE EDITION

A South Korean Navy ship conducts the Dokdo defense exercise in waters near Dokdo islets, known as "Takeshima" in Japan, South Korea yesterday. The Dokdo defense exercise is a drill aimed at removing enemy threats that will begin with a simulated infiltration in the territorial waters around Dokdo by "enemy forces." More in photo gallery

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THE United States has decided to reverse a recent decision to change the national classification of islands at the center of a territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea, a US official said yesterday.

The initial decision by the US Board of Geographic Names was to change the islands' listing from South Korean to "nondesignated sovereignty." It infuriated people in South Korea. The Seoul government recalled its ambassador to Tokyo early this month to protest Japan's inclusion in school textbooks of a Japanese claim to the Korean-controlled islands.

The reversal comes as President George W. Bush prepares to visit South Korea, a key Asian ally, next month.

Dennis Wilder, a White House Asia adviser, told reporters that "a very high-level" South Korean government official contacted the Bush administration about the decision. Bush asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to look into the matter, Wilder said, and the United States determined that the change "was not warranted at this time."

"We regret that this change in designation was perceived by South Koreans as some sort of change in our policy," Wilder said. The United States has no position on the territorial dispute, he said, and believes the two countries should work diplomatically to resolve the question.

South Korea welcomed the move.

"The swift action shows President Bush fully understands the sentiment of South Koreans, and is an outcome that reflected deep trust and friendship between the two leaders," Lee Dong-kwan, a spokesman for President Lee Myung-bak, said in comments posted on the presidential Web site.

The State Department said the initial re-designation was done to "be in conformity with US government efforts to standardize the filing of all features to which we do not recognize claims of sovereignty."

Michael Green, Bush's former Asia adviser, said that, had the administration not made the reversal, it was "going to be the lead story for President Bush's visit in Korea."

The tiny rocky outcroppings -- just 56 acres in total land area -- are in the Sea of Japan about halfway between the Korean peninsula and Japan. They are called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese and long have been a source of discord between Seoul and its former colonial ruler Tokyo.