Kim to hold Dokdo festival in East Sea

Pop singer Kim Jang-hoon will hold a “Dokdo festival” aboard a cruise ship in the East Sea on Feb. 28, along with self-styled Korea promoter Seo Kyoung-duk.

The two celebrities will invite about 300 people to the ship, which will be anchored between the two Dokdo islets to stage a concert.

“I planned the concert on the sea a day before the March 1 independence movement day, to make the world know Dokdo and the East Sea,’” Kim said on Monday, “I will try to develop the concert into the ‘East Sea Festival.’”

Dokdo is the easternmost end of Korea’s territories, but Japan calls it Takeshima, claiming sovereignty over it. Japan also calls the East Sea the Sea of Japan.

Kim and Seo first worked together on a Dokdo-themed documentary film in 2008, and have since pushed joint projects to publicize Dokdo and the East Sea worldwide. They have advertised Dokdo and the East Sea on the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

(swchun@heraldcorp.com)