Former Japanese PM says US sees Dokdo as Korean territory

Screenshot of tweet by former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama

By Yoon Ja-young

While Tokyo's inclusion of Dokdo on its summer Olympics map as Japan's territory is deepening the rift between Korea and Japan, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pointed out on Twitter that the United States recognizes Dokdo as part of Korea's territory.

Hatoyama wrote on Twitter on June 2 that Korea's presidential candidates have even gone to the step of proposing that Korea boycott the Games unless Japan changes the map, which includes "Takeshima" ― the Japanese name for Dokdo ― as Japan's territory. His statement comes after some Korean politicians claimed that the government should take stern measures if Japan refuses to change the map.

Hatoyama then criticized Japan's right-wingers for being two-faced. He asked if people knew that "Takeshima is marked as the Korean territory of Dokdo on the U.S. map, although this might make Japanese (people) feel uncomfortable." He then asked, "Is it because you conservatives are pro-U.S. that you cannot protest against this?" implying that the Japanese government is making two opposing gestures: claiming Dokdo as its territory to Korea while remaining silent over the U.S. map to the U.S.

Hatoyama, who served as prime minister from 2009-2010 while leading the liberal Democratic Party, has been urging the Japanese government to make a sincere apology regarding its atrocities during its colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

After retiring from politics, he visited Seodaemun Prison in Seoul in 2015, where Korean fighters seeking independence from Japan were imprisoned, tortured and killed during the colonial era. In 2018, he visited Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, to kneel down in front of Korean survivors of the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, consoling them and offering his apology.

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