S.Korea to actively review facility construction on islets disputed with Japan

South Korea's new maritime affairs minister said Monday that he will actively review the construction of facilities to enhance public access to the islets, called Dokdo here and Takeshima in Japan, as such an action is a part of exercising its own sovereignty rights.

"Building a public access facility on Dokdo is a part of exercising (South Korea's own) sovereignty. Because I think it's necessary, I'll continue to actively review (the construction)," Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Yoo Ki-june told reporters after his inaugural ceremony.

The former three-term lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party said that efforts to build such facilities on the islets have been suspended temporarily due to some issues, including environmental concerns, noting that there is now no change in the suspension.

The islets have been controlled by South Korea since it stationed border guards there in 1954. Japan claimed its sovereignty over the rocky outcroppings, but South Korea has said that the islets were the first victim of Japan's imperialistic occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

South Korea began in 2008 to review the project to build a facility on the islets, which lie halfway between South Korea and Japan. The facility was aimed at accommodating tourists.