[KS] Library of Congress Korean Controversy

[J.Scott Burgeson]

--- On Fri, 7/25/08, Young-Key Kim-Renaud <kimrenau at gwu.edu> wrote:

> Your assertions and rhetorical
> questions have also contributed to the debate, as people
> had a chance to rebut your and others' similar
> assumptions and preoccupation.

Well, I'm not sure the two questions I raised have been rebutted, but I think I'm going to bow out of this particular debate for now and merely keep my eyes and ears open to see how things develop further.

I do think it is fascinating the way Dokdo has mutated into a kind of postcolonial symbol central to the Korean modern identity. In Japan, Takeshima hardly seems crucial to the Japanese identity, although it has the potential to become so if the Korean side continues to escalate matters here. 

I wonder what people on the List think of the research of Gerry Bevers? He makes some rather devastating points against Korean claims, such as the island that most Korean scholars claim to be Dokdo on old maps is in fact Jukdo, just off the coast of Ullungdo.

--Scott Bug