JAPAN OPENS NATIONAL MUSEUM ABOUT DOKDO

[Anchor Lead]

On Monday, the Japanese government opened a new national museum on Dokdo, making a fresh territorial claim to Korea's easternmost islets. Tokyo's foreign minister also insisted the islets belong to Japan. These moves suggest Tokyo's intention to continue to lay false territorial claims to Dokdo this year.

[Pkg]

The National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty, operated by the Japanese government, was re-opened after a two-year renovation. It is seven times larger in scale as the previous one. It was also relocated to a downtown area for easy subway access. At the center of the facility is an exhibition hall on Dokdo.

[Soundbite] "Korea violated the international law to unilaterally and illegally occupy Takeshima (Dokdo)."

With few related foreign materials displayed, the exhibition features only Japanese records claiming sovereignty over Dokdo, such as a fishing license issued by the Shinema Prefecture Office.

[Soundbite] SEIICHI ETO(JAPANESE MINISTER ON TERRITORY ISSUES) : "We will closely discuss with other government agencies on the issue and promote students' school trips there."

An increased amount of materials on the Senkaku Islands, a disputed region with China - which calls them the Diaoyu Islands - is also on display. A new exhibition hall was set up on the Kuril Islands, which are at the center of a territorial dispute between Tokyo and Moscow. Japan's Cabinet Office did not allow Korean and foreign reporters to enter and cover the exhibition hall, saying that it was overcrowded.

[Soundbite] (MUSEUM OFFICIAL) : "Media coverage is completely banned. It is our decision and rule, although it is unprecedented."

On the same day, Japan's foreign minister laid a territorial claim to Dokdo during a speech before the Japanese Diet for the seventh straight year.

[Soundbite] TOSHIMITSU MOTEGI(JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER) : "Takeshima belongs to Japan both in the view of historical facts and under international law."

Seoul's foreign ministry called in a Japanese embassy official to protest the false territorial claim. It also urged Tokyo to withdraw the foreign minister's remarks and to immediately shut down the exhibition.