‘Dokdo’ disappears in Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries’ work reports to president under Yoon government

Snow piles up on Dokdo on December 21 last year. Yonhap News

It was pointed out that “Dokdo” was not mentioned in the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries’ work reports to the president under the Yoon Suk-yeol government.

Lawmaker Lim Mi-ae of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Committee, said on July 8, "There is no mention of Dokdo in the ‘Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' work report of New Government’ in August 2022 as well as in the subsequent work reports and the materials of this year's public welfare debate."

According to Lim, the ministry mentioned Dokdo 28 times in work reports to the president during the five-year term of the Lee Myung-bak administration and 26 times during the Park Geun-hye administration. During the Moon Jae-in administration, Dokdo was mentioned 39 times in the work reports from 2017 to 2021.

The first work report to the president under the Moon administration included "aggressive movements by neighboring countries over maritime territories, such as Dokdo have continued,” and "expanding cooperation between the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Coast Guard to protect maritime territories." Later, the word was also mentioned several times, such as "strengthening the management of Dokdo," "strengthening the management foundation for maritime territories, such as Dokdo," and "firmly defending the country’s maritime territories."

During the Park Geun-hye administration, the work reports included "Continuing to strengthen the territorial sovereignty of Dokdo" and "Strengthening international promotion of Dokdo and East Sea.” During the Lee Myung-bak administration, the work reports included the phrase "systematic management of maritime territories and firm defense of territorial sovereignty over Dokdo."

"The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries under the Yoon government did not mention Dokdo at all," Lim said. "I wonder if the ministry, which is responsible for establishing maritime territorial sovereignty, has given up its will to defend Dokdo in line with the Yoon government's subservient diplomatic stance toward Japan."

In response, an official from the ministry said, "Dokdo is of course an important part in matters related to the protection of maritime territories, and we continue to manage it like the previous government," adding, "We are checking whether Dokdo is mentioned in the work reports."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.