By Ankit Panda
President Obama backing Japan on the Senkaku Islands has caused South Korea to ask questions about Dokdo.
One of the unfortunate consequences of President Obama publicly affirming that the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands fall under the scope of the U.S.-Japan Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty is that it has prompted other U.S. allies in the region to ask questions about the U.S. position on their own disputes. Specifically, South Korea is concerned about its dispute with Japan over the Dokdo/Takeshima islands. On April 24, when Obama was in Tokyo, South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young told a press briefing that “Our government’s stance is that Dokdo is a territory under South Korea’s administrative control as stipulated in the South Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty.” That same day, Obama acknowledged that, because the Senkaku Islands fall under Japanese administration, the U.S. would thus be treaty-bound to fight beside Japan should those islands face attack.
The Dokdo Islands (known as Takeshima in Japan, and also as the Liancourt Rocks) are a small group of uninhabited islets — in that sense, they are similar to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands disputed between China and Japan. Unlike that dispute, however, the Dokdo/Takeshima dispute involves two of the United States’ closest allies in Asia: South Korea and Japan. The dispute itself has a storied history involving the United States, dating all the way back to the Korean War.
Read the full story at The Diplomat