Japanese Document Shows Dokdo Is Korean Territory Japan has claimed sovereignty over the rocky islets, but a document dating from 1951 showed that the Japanese government excluded Dokdo from its territory. / Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul By Kim Rahn Staff Reporter A Japanese government document dating from 1951 shows that Japan excluded Dokdo from its territory ― apparently pouring scorn on Japan's claim that it has long-recognized the islets as Japanese. The Korea Maritime Institute said Saturday that it discovered a Japanese document that excluded the islets from Japan's maritime territory when it rearranged property acquired during its colonization of nearby countries. ``Prime ministerial ordinance No. 24,'' issued on June 6, 1951, stated that Japanese territory was Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and nearby islands and excluded Jeju Island, Ulleung Island and Dokdo. Some old Japanese maps and books had previously omitted Dokdo from its territory, but it was the first time a government ordinance did, according to the institute. ``The ordinance shows that Japan did not have the authority to exercise property rights over Dokdo because it recognized that the islets did not belong to it ― meaning they belonged to Korea, known then as ``Joseon,'' Yoo Mi-rim, senior researcher of the the Korea Maritime Institute's Korea Dokdo Research Center, said. Japan has claimed that it acknowledged Dokdo as its territory long ago, but the document shows that it did not, at least before the San Francisco Peace Treaty was concluded on Sept. 8, 1951, Yoo said. The agreement, which took effect in April 1952, officially renounced Japan's rights to Korea and other Asian regions it colonized after World War II. The treaty was the beginning of over 50 years of dispute between Korea and Japan over Dokdo because the document did not explicitly state Dokdo's legal status. ``According to the document, Japan recognized Korea's sovereignty over Ulleung Island and Dokdo until just before the treaty was made. It is also significant that the Japanese government acknowledged so in its own ordinance,'' Yoo said. The ordinance was among several documents sent in July from the Japanese foreign ministry to Korean lawyer, Choi Bong-tae, who won a suit to demand that the ministry disclose the documents covering Korea-Japan talks. The section relating to ordinance No. 24 was removed from the documents when Choi received them, and the institute later discovered the ordinance, Yoo said.      (The Korea Times) rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr         US Financial Analyst Forecasts Weak Won for 2009 Nouriel Roubini Appreciating or Depreciating By Kim Tae-gyu Staff Reporter Roubini Global Economics (RGE) expected Friday that the Korean won will remain weak throughout 2009. This defies a general belief that the value of the dollar will be on the decrease down the road. RGE is a U.S. financial analysis outfit headed by Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor at New York University. He got the moniker of ``Dr. Doom'' by precisely predicting the global financial crisis. ``This de-leveraging, plus the export slowdown and portfolio outflows from Korean equity and debt markets, might keep the won weakening versus the dollar until late 2009,'' RGE said in an article on its Web site. ``The current account will likely improve if commodity prices remain low and import demand falls, but capital outflows will outweigh the effect of the current account surplus on the won,'' it said. De-leveraging refers to an attempt to trim an entity's debts through paying off existing obligations. While trying to repay external debts or sell off assets, Korean banks have raised demand for the dollar versus the won. Due in no small part to the de-leveraging, the value of the Korean won has substantially depreciated against the greenback this year. Although it recovered to some extent this month, the exchange rate is still low in comparison to last year. The won closed at 936.1 won per dollar in 2007 and suffered a free fall to a yearly low of 1,525 won late November. It appreciated slightly this month to around 1,300 won. RGE projected the December slide of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, including the euro and the won, to disappear in the near future with the sole exception of the Japanese yen. ``The turn-of-the-year profit-taking on long dollar positions crates a near-term blip in the dollar's up-trend but doesn't alter the medium-term trend of appreciation versus the euro,'' RGE said. ``Governments, banks and other firms are still scrambling for dollars to repay their dollar-denominated debt while signs of global recession and credit crisis spur on the flight-to-safety in U.S. treasuries,'' it also said. Mixed Responses The article splits domestic experts into two opposing camps. Samsung Securities analyst Kim Seong-bong said the RGE article does not make any sense. ``The U.S. is printing too much money and it adopted a zero interest rate. Hence, the supply of the dollar will outstrip its demand, which will end up weakening the dollar,'' Kim said. ``My concern is that the won will appreciate too much against the dollar because this can make a dent on the price competitiveness of Korean products in the global market,'' he said. Early this week, the U.S. Federal Reserve slashed its target for overnight interest rates to a record low of zero to 0.25 percent. Low interest rates usually trigger an exodus of investors, which devalues currency. In comparison, Citigroup economist Oh Suk-tae agreed with RGE by and large. ``Most economists fail to explain why the U.S. dollar has depreciated as of late. The zero interest rate in the U.S., which was widely expected over the last few months, was already factored in,'' Oh said. ``Without substantive improvement in the real economy, or without advancement in the economic fundamentals, the value of the dollar cannot head south,'' he said. Song Tae-jung, an economist at LG Economic Research Institute, is on the same page as RGE and Oh. ``I think there are lots of truths in the RGE analysis. De-leveraging tends to last quite a long time, thus weighing on the value of the Korean won,'' Song said. A Goodmorning Shinhan Securities analyst pointed out that the controversy is basically about economists' views on the 2009 outlooks. ``The debate on the foreign exchange rate is equivalent to that on the future of the economy. Optimists who forecast fast recovery may predict a weak dollar and strong won in 2009,'' Lee Sun-yup said. ``By contrast, pessimists would come up with the opposite. I am neutral. To be frank, I don't know because many uncertainties linger,'' he said.           Six-Party Heads-of-Delegation Session Held Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The six-party heads-of-delegation session was held in Beijing from Dec. 8 to 11. It discussed the issues of winding up as soon as possible the implementation of the October 3 agreement adopted in 2007 and closed with the adoption of its chairman's statement.   The parties participating in the session recognized the fact that there has been positive progress in the implementation of the measures taken at the second phase specified in the September 19 joint statement.   They agreed to round off the economic and energy compensation equivalent to the supply of a million tons of heavy oil to the DPRK in return for the disablement as stipulated in the October 3 agreement.   They welcomed the international community's participation in making economic compensation in place of Japan which totally refused to fulfil its commitment under the agreement reached among the six parties.   They also agreed to separately hold meetings of a working group for economic and energy aid, a working group for establishing a peace and security mechanism in Northeast Asia and the next six-party talks as early as possible.             By Kim Tong-hyung Staff Reporter Korean scientists sequencing the human genome said they have finished the job after just seven months, an achievement that may eventually reveal new opportunities for the treatment of genetic diseases. The subject of the latest genome sequencing was Kim Seong-jin, a cancer specialist from Gachon University of Medicine and Science, who became just the fourth individual ever, and the first Korean, to have his DNA blueprint decoded. The individual genome sequence of American biologist Craig Venter was published in 2007, followed by those of DNA pioneer James Watson in April. Chinese scientist Yang Huanming became the first Asian last month to have his genome sequenced. The first Reference Sequence of the human genome was announced in 2003, a result of collaborative efforts of 16 laboratories in the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Japan and China. ``Dr. Watson, who won a Nobel prize for his discovery of the double-helix structure of the DNA, revealed his DNA sequence to advance studies in personalized medical treatment,'' said Kim, who led a team of researchers from Gachon University and the Korean Bioinformation Center (KOBIC) for the project. ``I threw myself into the project after being inspired by Dr. Watson's book, and I am honored to reveal my DNA sequence for the development of medical research,'' he said. Genome sequencing is considered crucial in assessing the risks of genetic diseases, with the analysis of genetic makeup allowing doctors to predict which diseases individuals are susceptible to. Scientists have already identified specific genetic sequences that could be linked to certain conditions such as cancer, leukemia, diabetes, depression and alcoholism. The completion of Kim's personal genome sequence is claimed as a breakthrough in efforts to establish a reference genome for Koreans, which would introduce advancements in medical genetics and ``customized'' treatment for patients. Currently, Korean researchers are relying on the reference genome provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify DNA sequence variations such as SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism), which explain differences in human traits and disease susceptibility. The research was also in line with the goal of making genome sequencing more commercially viable to patients. The seven months of research to complete the genome sequence cost about 1.05 billion won ($716,000) including 800 million won for the computer system used for the decoding. In comparison, Venter's genome sequencing took four years and about 100 billion won ― Watson's project took about four months and 1.5 billion won, Kim said. Scientists believe that the cost could drop to around $1,000 in two to three years, which would allow the market to ``explode.'' ``There are only four people now who have had their genome sequence revealed, but that number could reach the thousands in the near future,'' said Yonsei University researcher Paik Young-ki, who participated in the project. ``The latest achievement will open the era of personalized medical treatment and also help research into disease-related protein and drug development,'' he said. Kim's team finished the mapping of 20.7 billion DNA base pairs, compared to the 2.9 billion base pairs revealed in the reference genome project. His genome sequence reveals that genetic variations between humans could be greater than previously thought. Kim's genome map revealed a total of 3.23 million SNPs, including 1.58 million SNPs that weren't found in the genome sequences of Venter, Watson and Yang.           Six-Party Heads-of-Delegation Session Held    Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The six-party heads-of-delegation session was held in Beijing from Dec. 8 to 11.   It discussed the issues of winding up as soon as possible the implementation of the October 3 agreement adopted in 2007 and closed with the adoption of its chairman's statement.   The parties participating in the session recognized the fact that there has been positive progress in the implementation of the measures taken at the second phase specified in the September 19 joint statement.   They agreed to round off the economic and energy compensation equivalent to the supply of a million tons of heavy oil to the DPRK in return for the disablement as stipulated in the October 3 agreement.   They welcomed the international community's participation in making economic compensation in place of Japan which totally refused to fulfil its commitment under the agreement reached among the six parties.   They also agreed to separately hold meetings of a working group for economic and energy aid, a working group for establishing a peace and security mechanism in Northeast Asia and the next six-party talks as early as possible.

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