Shimane Prefecture’s perception of the waters around Dokdo Island surrounding the Peace Line: Politicization of fishing rights

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to shed light on how the perception of the waters around Dokdo in Shimane Prefecture surrounding the Peace Line was expressed. Based on the theoretical background of the politicization of fishing rights, the discussion will focus on the moments that led Shimane Prefecture to transform the issue of captured fishing boats in waters around Dokdo into a sovereignty issue from the declaration of the peace line in January 1952 to the conclusion of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan in June 1965. Shimane Prefecture regarded the declaration of the peace line as a political measure aimed at cracking down on Japanese fishermen in the waters around Dokdo and the fishing grounds on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. Above all, Shimane Prefecture recognized the Peace Line as an unreasonable fishing border and argued that the Korean government's seizure of Japanese fishing boats was an illegal act. Moreover, while the Japanese media was raising the illegality of the peace ship, fabricated reports about the capture of Japanese fishing boats that landed on Dokdo provided an excuse to escalate the Dokdo issue. What is noteworthy is that Shimane Prefecture's self-centered perception of the Peace Ship originated from a distortion of the wrong facts resulting from changes in the Japanese government's fishing policy, rather than from a sense of victimization among fishing boats and fishermen captured by Korea. In other words, Shimane Prefecture's perception of the waters around Dokdo surrounding the Peace Line was expressed through the politicization of fishing rights, where the distorted facts of fishermen entrenched by Japan's fisheries policy infiltrated their real lives and escalated beyond securing the right to survive to a question of sovereignty.