Does a flag icon representing diplomatic missions abroad used in a map once shown on South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website mean that President Yoon Suk Yeol handed over Dokdo Island to Japan? No, that's not true: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained there was a misunderstanding when Dokdo Island was marked with the flag icon, and the ministry removed the flag icon "so that there is no further unnecessary misunderstanding."
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published by @usernv5i4pzw22 on February 1, 2024, with a caption translated into English from Korean by Lead Stories staff that reads:
Yoon Suk Yeol has already handed over Dokdo.
Dokdo Out of Territory? Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marks 'Diplomatic Mission Abroad' on Dokdo
Dokdo is considered a diplomatic mission abroad?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Feb 7 15:36:05 2024 UTC)
Dokdo Island is the Korean name of the Liancourt Rocks, also known by the Japanese name Takeshima, a disputed territory between Korea and Japan. According to the official Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the Korean government's stance on Dokdo Island has not changed. The official statement reads:
Dokdo is an integral part of Korean territory, historically, geographically, and under international law.
An article (archived here) from South Korea's Yonhap News agency from January 31, 2024, on overseas travel showed a map from the Foreign Affairs Ministry travel safety website (archived here) which showed South Korean diplomatic missions abroad. The original map showed a flag icon marking Dokdo Island.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained there was a misunderstanding when Dokdo Island was marked with the Korean flag icon, which would denote a diplomatic mission, but whose intended purpose was to offer users a link to the Dokdo Island homepage (archived here). The ministry could not confirm the initial date Dokdo Island was marked with the overseas missions icon, but according to the Yonhap article, the ministry official explained it "immediately deleted the marking of overseas missions on Dokdo from the map so that there is no further unnecessary misunderstanding."
