S Korea, Japan in propaganda war

the issue.
Their respective foreign ministries both unveiled requests for hefty budget increases to support efforts to publicise their respective claims — at home and abroad — to islands known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese.
“We’ve asked the National Assembly to approve five billion won (US$4,4 million) for projects aimed at strengthening our sovereignty over Dokdo,” a South Korean ministry spokesman said.
The increase, if approved, would more than double the existing budget.
The spokesman refused to give a breakdown of how the money would be spent, but Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified ministry official as saying it would primarily be used for a worldwide publicity drive.
The Japanese ministry said it was asking the central government to set aside US$7 million to promote its side of the argument over the islands, along with other territorial disputes.
The conservative Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday that the government would “place ads in 70 national and regional newspapers from September 11 for a week” to highlight its case for sovereignty over the Takeshima islets.
It marks the first time the government has used newspaper adverts to buttress its argument, the newspaper said. Later yesterday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan said Seoul was prepared to buy its own ad space in Japanese newspapers.
“We will secure the budget to run ads saying ‘Dokdo is our territory’ in Japanese media,” Kim, on a visit to Oslo with President Lee Myung-Bak, was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
The rocky outcroppings at the centre of the dispute are located roughly halfway between the two countries in the Sea of Japan.
They are currently occupied by South Korea, but claimed by both countries.
The dispute flared with renewed passion after President Lee provoked an angry reaction from Tokyo by paying a surprise visit to the islands last month.
Tensions reached a point where Clinton felt compelled at an Asia-Pacific summit on Sunday to ask both countries to “lower the temperature” and adopt a “calm and restrained approach” in seeking a resolution. — AFP.