Think tank head offers to quit over Dokdo remarks

The head of the state-run think tank on North Korean studies said Monday he offered to quit his job last week over his controversial remarks on the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo.

The move by Kim Tae-woo, president of the Korea Institute for National Unification, comes nearly two months after he said there was a need to discuss with Japan possible sharing of rights to use marine and seabed resources around Dokdo.

In August, Kim floated his idea on conditions that Japan recognize Seoul's sovereignty over the islets and apologize for its past wrongdoing, including the sexual enslavement of Korean women for front-line Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Kim made the suggestions amid an escalating territorial spat between South Korea and Japan following South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's unprecedented Aug. 10 visit to Dokdo.

Japan, which has claimed Dokdo as its territory, has threatened to take the issue to the International Court of Justice, an idea rejected by South Korea.

Kim said his resignation was accepted around noon Monday after lawmakers pressed the head of a research council under the Prime Minister's Office that oversees the Korea Institute for National Unification during a parliamentary inspection.

The case represents South Korea's sensitivity toward Dokdo.

South Koreans view Japan's claim over Dokdo as tantamount to denying its rights because the country regained independence from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule and reclaimed sovereignty over its territory, which includes Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula.

Dokdo, which lies closer to South Korea in the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, has long been a thorn in bilateral relations. South Korea keeps a small police detachment on the islets, effectively controlling them. (Yonhap News)