N. Gyeongsang council forms Dokdo protection committee, elects Seo Jae-won as chair

The North Gyeongsang Provincial Council's Special Committee for the Protection of Dokdo held its inaugural meeting Tuesday and elected Seo Jae-won, a lawmaker from Pohang, as chair and Jeong Yun-tae, a lawmaker from Ulleung, as vice chair.

The nine-member committee includes Chair Seo Jae-won (Pohang), Vice Chair Jeong Yun-tae (Ulleung), and lawmakers Kim Sang-il (Pohang), Park Young-seo (Mungyeong), Yun Cheol-nam (Yeongyang), Lee Dong-eop (Pohang), Jang Myung-su (Pohang), Jeong Suk-gyeong (proportional representation) and Jo Yong-jin (Gimcheon).

The committee will work to counter Japan's continued claims to Dokdo and its distortion of history, while promoting Korea's territorial sovereignty over the islets, spreading accurate historical awareness, and strengthening systematic preservation, management and domestic and international outreach.

In particular, the committee plans to monitor issues related to Japan's unjustified sovereignty claims — as expressed through its defense white papers, diplomatic bluebooks and school textbooks — and to work with the North Gyeongsang provincial government and relevant agencies to develop effective countermeasures.

"As Ulleungdo is my constituency, I will faithfully bring the voices from Dokdo into our legislative work and join forces with fellow committee members to firmly protect Dokdo, our land," Vice Chair Jeong said.

Chair Seo said Dokdo is "unquestionably Korea's inherent territory, historically, geographically and under international law," adding that the committee would "respond resolutely to Japan's repeated sovereignty claims and historical distortions, widely promote accurate historical awareness of Dokdo, and further consolidate Korea's effective control over the islets."