Famous South Korean rock singer Kim Jang-hoon swims into island dispute with Japan

 South Korean singer Kim Jang-Hoon (R) swims in the sea off Uljin, 225 kms southeast of Seoul, on August 13, 2012. He's among more than 40 swimmers who are part of a politically-charged relay team swimming from South Korea to the contested islands of Dokdo, or Takeshima as they're known in Japan.


A famous South Korean rock singer is just hours away from swimming into the diplomatic row over a small group of rocky islets in the East Sea, or the Sea of Japan.

Kim Jang-hoon is among dozens of amateur athletes who left the eastern port of Uljin Monday, bound for Dokdo, a largely uninhabited set of volcanic islands claimed by both South Korea and Japan, known by Tokyo as Takeshima.

The group's 55-hour, 230-kilometer relay swim is expected to end Wednesday, on the 67th anniversary of Korea's independence from Japanese colonial rule.

Before jumping into the water, singer Kim Jang-Hoon told reporters: "I will never make such a comment as 'Dokdo is our territory' when I arrive there. It's meaningless to do so because they are undeniably our territory," according to the Yonhap news agency.

The politically-charged event comes days after Lee Myung-Bank broke with convention to become the first South Korean president to visit the contested islands.

Asian Defence News