Why South Korea wants a piece of Russia

Russia is a country which has multiple border disputes with its neighbours, and soon there might be another one with a country which doesn’t technically have a border with Russia: South Korea. Subject of this developing territorial dispute is the former island known as Noktundo or No’ktundo (Ноктундо in Russian and 녹둔도 in Korean). Since mediaeval times, Noktundo was a remote outpost of the Korean state (Chosen or Joeson). However, centuries later, when the Tuman river (or Tumen river) began changing its course, the island became permanently attached to the mainland which would become Russian territory in 1860 after the treaty of Aigun. Since then, the territory has been under Russian control - but recently voices calling for the return of Noktundo to South Korea are getting louder in the South Korean media and public. In this video we’ll take a look at what this conflict is really all about, how it developed and what it means for the future of East Asian security politics -