South Korea craves foreign approval of its claim to two tiny rocks

THE two countries of the Korean peninsula may have many disagreements to resolve, but in one respect, they are in perfect accord. Dokdo, a pair of rocks in the sea that separates the peninsula from Japan, both insist, have been an integral part of Korea for centuries. Consequently Japan’s claim to the islands, which it calls Takeshima, is imperialism, plain and simple. At the first of three recent summits between Kim Jong Un, the North’s dictator, and Moon Jae-in, the president of the South, the mango mousse was decorated with a chocolate map of the peninsula complete with a tasty Dokdo-shaped dot.

Dokdo-ganda is everywhere—even on the train from the airport into Seoul, South Korea’s capital. “History knows the truth,” flash the screens above the seats, “Japan knows the truth.” To rousing martial music, they go on to display a series of yellowing documents and maps with excerpts highlighted in red. These bits of paper, the bleary-eyed visitor is informed, are proof that Dokdo is inalienable Korean territory.