Quoting a South Korean official at the United Nations, Yonhap said President Roh Moo Huyun had chosen the country's U.N. representative for the new post of "Tokdo ambassador."

The news agency said the envoy would work to have the international community recognize the islands, called Tokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, as Korean territory.

It said he would also push Seoul's case to have the world refer to the waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula as the "East Sea" rather than the "Sea of Japan" in current usage.

In a three-page letter addressed to the South Korean public March 23, Roh said the country was ready for a "diplomatic war" with Japan as tensions flared over the islands.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 2, 2005
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