[독도와 도쿄올림픽과 외로운 섬 독도(獨島)에 관한 제안 2편(Tokyo Olympics and “Dokdo(獨島)”, Namely Only Lonely Island)]
Tokyo2020올림픽이 이제 1개월 남짓 남은 상황에서 올림픽의 가치와 연계하여 독도 이슈 2번째 이야기를 시작한다.
독도(獨島) 이슈에 대해 국내와는 달리 아직까지 외신(SNS포함)에서는 단 한 줄도 다루고 있지 않고 있다. (‘Dokto’ issue appears neither as stories nor as articles in global media including SNS as yet, even though Korean media and local heavy weight politicians including local civic groups claim even Olympic boycott at the up-coming Tokyo2020 Games.)
그래서 필자는 조심스럽게 또 개인적으로 생각하는 독도 해법에 대하여 상생하는 입장에서 늦지 않게 이 문제를 해결할 수 있는 독도 및 건전한 제안을 영어로(혹시 외신이나 외국 친구들과의 공감대 형성을 꾀하기 위하여)하고자 한다. (With this in mind, I decided to carefully and personally touch upon ‘Dokto’ and some sound suggestions to solve this issue sooner than later on a win-win basis.)
오늘은 그 시리즈 2편을 소개한다.
*Series II: Tokyo2020 Olympics is not about ‘Dokto’ contention, but about Legacy of Harmony, Progress, and World Peace
Tokyo2020 Games is still under increasing public pressure in Japan as to whether to go ahead or otherwise due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is reportedly known that the scheduled gala reception targeted for invited VIP guests from various countries at the Closing Ceremonies of the Tokyo2020 Games would be cancelled, despite being an excellent opportunity for Japan as Host Country to make the best use of its Olympic occasion to promote and enhance its diplomatic prowess to the whole world. In addition, 10,000 Olympic volunteers tendered their resignation to stay away from the Games. It is, indeed, a bad omen for an Olympic Host country to stage a globally successful Games. Under any circumstances, Japan has solemn duties and responsibilities to respect the Olympic spirit free from political maneuvering by no longer posting the map showing the route of the Olympic Torch relay which includes Dokto by a small dot above Shimane Prefecture of Japan. As soon as such map appeared on the Tokyo2020 Olympic official website, it suddenly prompted such moves as a protest in Korea calling even for an Olympic boycott in Tokyo2020. It is reported that quite recently Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee sent an official letter to the International Olympic Committee, urging its “active mediation role” on this matter. As expected, Tokyo has rejected requests from Korea to eliminate Dokto from the Tokyo2020 Olympic website. The ‘Dokto’ map issue appeared to have particularly irritated the Korean public recalling that Dokto was not shown on a flag of Koran Peninsula when inter-Korean delegation carried it at the Opening Ceremonies of PyeongChang2018 Olympic Winter Games in consideration of and for the sake of Japan. As noted, ‘Dokto’ was removed from the Korea Unification Flag after Korea accepted an IOC request that followed a strong complaint from Japan. At that time the IOC asked PyeongChang2018 Organizing Committee to respect the guidelines on political neutrality which the IOC set as its policy in relation to the world political matters. But for Tokyo2018 Games, it does not seem to be the case of equal application of the political neutrality by the IOC in response to the request by Korea. Nevertheless, as of now, I do not want to call this phenomenon as a double standard by the IOC. In this context, I would, still, like to give the IOC’s stance the benefit of doubt, because IOC President Thomas Bach is a proven world leader with balanced thought to pursue his policy of “Unity in Diversity”, where applicable.
Written by Prof. Rocky YOON Kang-ro, Ph.D.
President of International Sport Diplomacy Institute
