"my own bias tells me they are being truthful here."? Aren't you the same one that (rightfully I felt) called shenanigans when China was playing fast and loose with the history of Kogryo?

I tend to agree with you about Korea's claim in both cases.

My only point here is that China's hand is always suspect. This current pronouncement is, you can bet, really about other stuff.

But, thinking about the emotional intensity with which many Koreans appear to approach this (setting yourself on fire?), let me offer you a small piece of advice from Franco-German history: Alsace-Lorraine is beautiful.

But it wasn't worth it.

Peter, IMHO it all depends on which basket you put your heart or balls into. Is Dokdo worth it? From a purely objective point of view, course not. But, I don't think Korean pride can take the blow of losing Dokdo. It's as if someone you hate walked into your house uninvited and pissed on the wall. Sure, you can wash the wall but would you be able to forget it happened and move on with your life?

Is life really worth so much that such insults are acceptable?

Korean pride can't take the blow? Koreans would have a right to be angry, but look at the country's vast history and cultural heritage. Is it really reasonable to say that Korean pride hangs by such a tenuous thread?

You have a right to be angry. Koreans do: I am not arguing that point.

Instead I am arguing for some sort of larger perspective. For instance, Lincoln's advice is equally useful in such circumstances:
"Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself, can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper, and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite."