국가안보적 영토관리를 위한 독도의 환경적 고찰

Abstract

In the past, war was a means to protect sovereignty but with time, environmental factors are getting important. As for the sovereignty over islands including uninhabited islands, international arbitration organizations considered whether the administrative power and judicial power of a country are exerted to the island as important evidence. In 2002, International Court of Justice ruled in favor of Malaysia securing more environmental data in the Pulau Ligitan & Pulau Sipadan Case which was a sovereignty dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia lasted for thirty years. The judgment means how important the establishment of environmental database is in the sovereignty disputes. This paper is based on the argument that securing more environmental data could lead to taking the advantageous position in sovereignty disputes. By following this measure, if a country can strengthen the sovereignty power, it would be a considerable contribution to the national security. Along with the measure, the research activity about Dokdo Islands to precisely understand, manage and protect the Dokdo Islands' ecosystem can be a way to publicize the fact that Dokdo is a Korean territory in the international society. The research activities about Dokdo Islands have been mainly focused on topography, plants, birds, insects, marine algae, marine invertebrates and marine ecological maps. However, new researches in new fields are required td o secure additional data. For this, chemical analyses were conducteto see toxic materials in the Dokdo Islands. According to the analyses, dioxin(PCDD/PCDFs) and other toxic materials(PCBs, PBDEs, PCNs, PAHs) were found but the amounts were smaller than that of the natural world. The amount of toxic materials found in Dokdo was much smaller than that of foreign countries and the mainland of Korea. It is highly possible that the small amount of toxic materials of Dokdo blown over from China and Korea on the westerlies is absorbed into the soil. To keep the Dokdo Islands as a clean area, it is required to have the air of China and Korea clean first. In the future, the sovereignty judgments by international arbitration organizations will be highly based on environmental data. In this regard, this paper is meaningful that chemical analyses processes are added to the government research activities to secure additional information. If the environmental data keeps updated and its significance is acknowledged by the international society, our sovereignty over Dokdo Islands could be strengthened. It also proves how important role the environment data plays in national security. The Dokdo Islands' environmental data is highly important in terms of environmental security.