Lawmakers visit Dokdo to encourage Coast Guard officers

(ATTN: UPDATES with the number of lawmakers in the second para, ADDS more details in third para)
SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) -- A group of seven lawmakers visited South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo Tuesday, seeking to boost the morale of South Korean Coast Guard officers stationed there in the face of Japan's constant territorial claims.
While on the East Sea islets, the lawmakers -- four from the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and three from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) -- discussed upgrading the rank of the chief of the Coast Guard garrison on Dokdo as well as the rank of the top police officer on Ulleung Island, located between Dokdo and the Korean Peninsula's east coast.
The lawmakers arrived at the island in the East Sea via a helicopter to encourage Coast Guard officers there and discuss ways to promote the status of upper-rank police guards and create a special duty allowance for them, said Rep. Lee In-ki of the GNP, who led the group.
The Coast Guard detachment has been stationed there since 1954.
Japan's claims over Dokdo have long been a thorn in relations between the two countries as resentment over Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea still runs deep here.
South Korea rejects the claims as nonsense because the country regained independence from colonial rule and reclaimed sovereignty over its territory, including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula.
ejkim@yna.co.kr