Group of S. Korean lawmakers visits Dokdo

SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) — A group of South Korean lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties visited their country’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on Monday as the nation celebrated the 71st anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.

The group of 10 lawmakers, led by Saenuri Party Rep. Na Kyung-won, said the trip was intended to reassert South Korea’s sovereignty of the islets and was an “inherent” part of their parliamentary activities.

South Korea’s lawmakers and other participants give three cheers while waving the national flag during their visit to the easternmost islets of Dokdo on Aug. 15, 2016.

It is the first such trip by South Korean lawmakers since Aug. 14, 2013, when another group of lawmakers traveled to the islets to counter Japan’s territorial claims to Dokdo.

“(I) hope that there will be more such visits in the future,” Na told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. “More attention and support (for Dokdo) on the part of the National Assembly is needed.”

Besides Na, who is a four-term lawmaker and former head of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, six lawmakers from the ruling party, along with two from the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea and one from the minor opposition People’s Party, visited Dokdo.

Taean County head Han Sang-ki (2nd from L) delivers a stone from South Korea’s westernmost island to Ulleung County head Choi Soo-il (2nd from R) during their visit to the nation’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on Aug. 15, 2016.

On the same day, Han Sang-ki, the administrative chief of Taean County, South Chungcheong Province, also traveled to Dokdo and handed a stone from South Korea’s westernmost archipelago in the county to Choi Soo-il, the head of Ulleung County, to which Dokdo belongs.

The handover of the stone was a symbolic move to underscore South Korea’s territorial right to the islets in the East Sea.

Tokyo’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga expressed regrets over the lawmakers’ visit to Dokdo.

South Korea maintains that Dokdo is its territory “historically, geographically and by international law.”

South Korea has been in effective control of the islets since the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japan in 1945. It has held drills to defend Dokdo twice a year since 1986.

A South Korean police officer stands guard on Dokdo on Aug. 15, 2016.