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Article published In:
The Roles of Communication on a Regional Conflict: Antipathy, Nationalism, and Conflicts among China, Japan, and South Korea
Edited by Eungjun Min
[Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 27:2] 2017
► pp. 232–245

Nationalism, public opinion, and dispute resolution

The Dokdo/Takeshima dispute

| University of Tennessee
| Yonsei University, Korea

For several decades South Koreans have rallied around the Dokdo/Takeshima islets, small rocky outcroppings in the East Sea/Sea of Japan. There have been significant mobilization efforts by the Korean government, opposition parties, media, and civic groups that stir up a strong level of nationalism in South Korea. Why is public opinion about Dokdo, as the islets are named by Koreans, so fierce in South Korea despite the fact that South Korea has maintained effective control of the islets for over 50 years? How can public opinion and territorial nationalism affect dispute resolution? In this research project, we argue that domestic mobilization, stalwart public opinion, and strong territorial nationalism exist primarily because the islets symbolize other salient issues disputed with Japan and such issue linkage makes the territorial dispute difficult to resolve.

Keywords: nationalism, territorial dispute, rhetoric, mobilization, public opinion, Korea, Japan
Article outline
  • Public opinion and territorial nationalism
  • Government mobilization
  • Mobilization by civic groups
  • Territorial dispute and issue linkage
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.27.2.05wie
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