Ancient Documents Refute Japans Dokdo Claim
This is the sixth in a series of articles highlighting Dokdo's history, environment, old maps and folklore, possibility of the international court decision on the East Sea islets and law of the sea. The series is the joint project of The Korea Times and the Korea Dokdo Research Center, which is affiliated with the Korea Maritime Institute. ― ED.
By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
"Dokdo has continued to be an integral part of Korean territory: this is an indisputable fact that has been fully established by the historical records of both Korea and Japan."
That's according to the Korea Dokdo Research Center at the Korea Maritime Institute, a research group that aims to shed light on historical and legal facts and show that the East Sea islets do indeed belong to Korea.
Dokdo's History From Ancient Korea
The research center notes that historically, the islets belonged to ``Usanguk" during the Three Kingdoms Period, and was referred to as ``Usando" during the Joseon Kingdom, when the islets were also known as ``Jasando," ``Gajido" and ``Sambongdo."
Mentions of Usando are found in Joseon Kingdom's historical and geographical treatises, including Jiriji (Book of Geography) of Sejong Sillok (Annals of King Sejong: 1454), Sinjeung Dongguk Yeoji Seungnam (Revised and Augmented Version of the Survey of the National Geography of Korea: 1530), and Dongguk Munheon Bigo (Reference Compilation of Korean Documents: 1770) as well as Jeungbo Munheon Bigo (Expanded Reference Compilation of Korean Documents: 1908), which was accompanied by maps indicating its precise location.
Meanwhile, Park Se-dang, a scholar of the late Joseon period, helped clear up any ambiguity concerning Usando being present-day Dokdo, by making a clear distinction between Usando and Ulleungdo, providing detailed descriptions of these islands.
The fact that Usando continued to be mentioned in Korean historical records from the 15th century through the 20th century, in an uninterrupted manner, amply demonstrates that the existence of this island was common knowledge in Korea.
Korean Fisherman Defended Dokdo
According to the research center, Korea's territorial sovereignty over Dokdo was further confirmed by a Korean fisherman named Ahn Yong-bok, who crossed the East Sea to Japan to defend Korean ownership of the islets more than 300 years ago.
Ahn successfully defended the Korean position on Dokdo against the Japanese authorities in the late 17th century.
Japan has long insisted that Ahn Yong-bok gave a false testimony to the Korean authorities. However, the discovery in May 2005 of an old document containing Ahn Yong-bok's statements before the Japanese authorities, in the Oki Islands, titled ``Memorandum on the Arrival of a Joseon ship on the Japanese Coast in 1696" provided evidence in support of his original testimony.
This document confirms that Ahn Yong-bok was clearly aware of the fact that the two islands, referred to by the Japanese as ``Takeshima" and ``Matsushima," were Ulleungdo and Dokdo respectively, both under the jurisdiction of Gangwon Province of Joseon, and that he stated this fact before the Japanese authorities.
Dokdo Is Part of Korea Under Int'l Law
In 1900, the Korean imperial government issued Chingnyeong No. 418, an imperial ordinance to rename Ulleungdo as Uldo and grant it the administrative status of gun (county), the research center observed.
It was also via this decree that Seokdo, a local name for Dokdo, was designated as the official name of the islets, which clearly indicates that they were under the jurisdiction of Korea's Great Han Empire.
``Seokdo," literally meaning ``rock island", transcribes the name ``Dokseom" used by locals into a Chinese character-based expression.
According to the Chinese character transcription rule in use at that time, both ``Seokdo" and ``Dokdo" were acceptable equivalents of ``Dokseom."
The fact that Sim Heung-taek, one of the earliest governors of Ulleungdo County, in a record dated 1906 referred Dokdo as ``the island under our county's jurisdiction," demonstrates that the island was incorporated to Ulleungdo County, at least no later than 1906, and that the county governor was well aware of this administrative status.
Also, no other ordinance concerning the administrative status of Ulleungdo was issued after Imperial Ordinance No. 41, suggesting that the governor of Ulleungdo County continued to handle the administrative affairs of Dokdo.
Shimane Notice: Based on False Premise
In 1905, Japan declared its incorporation of Dokdo through a local administrative notice of Shimane Prefecture. The premise of the notice was that Dokdo had been ``terra nullius," an unoccupied land, the Korea Dokdo Research Center noted.
The argument that Dokdo was incorporated to Shimane Prefecture as terra nullius because there was no ``evidence to show that this uninhabited island had been occupied by any country under international law" squarely contradicts the claim advanced by the Japanese in recent years that it has been Japanese territory since olden times.
As Dokdo was part of the sovereign territory of Korea, the consideration of this island as unoccupied runs counter to the historical truths, therefore the Japanese decision to incorporate the island in 1905 is null and void under international law.
Japan's Unilateral Notice
The alleged Japanese incorporation of Dokdo began when a Japanese fisherman named Nakai Yozaburo petitioned the local administration in the hope of gaining exclusive seal hunting rights near the island. Initially, Yozaburo intended to petition the Korean government for his hunting rights, as he believed Dokdo to be under the latter's jurisdiction.
The Japanese Ministry of Home Affairs also felt reluctant about the idea of incorporating a barren island presumably belonging to Korea, as this might lead to the suspicion of territorial ambition on the part of Japan over the neighboring peninsula.
In spite of this awareness that Dokdo was Korean territory, Japan went ahead and declared the incorporation of the island into Japanese territory, but almost clandestinely, without so much as an inquiry or official notification to the Great Han Empire in the late Joseon Kingdom.
While fully aware of the illicit nature of this act, the Japanese government unilaterally issued the Prefectural notice, taking advantage of its favorable position on the international political landscape of the time.
Japan's Clandestine Operation
The incorporation of Dokdo by Japan came to the knowledge of the Korean government belatedly via an indirect route. But, by then, Korea was already a Japanese protectorate and could not utilize any means of diplomatic protest.
In March 1906, the Governor of Ulleungdo County, Sim Heung-taek, upon learning about the Japanese decision to incorporate Dokdo from officials of Shimane Prefecture, notified the Korean government of this fact without delay. The illegal nature of this decision was duly pointed out by the government, which ordered further investigation of the affair.
Unfortunately, however, in the spring of 1906, when the report by Governor Sim came in, the Han empire was already deprived of diplomatic rights and put under the state of a de facto colony of Japan.
Hence, in spite of the prompt notification by Sim, the Korean government did not have diplomatic means to lodge any meaningful diplomatic protest.
Internally, however, the Korean government continued to affirm that Dokdo was Korean sovereign territory, and issued orders to closely monitor developments related to the Japanese attempt to incorporate Dokdo.
The Korean press of the time also showed keen interest in the issue and continued to cover related developments including Sim's report to the government, which clearly indicates the existence of a public consensus that Dokdo was an integral part of Korean territory.
A Glance at Korea Dokdo Research Center
The research center, part of the Korea Maritime Institute, was set up in 2006 to conduct systematic and comprehensive research on Dokdo-related issues to support government policies.
The center studies policies to safeguard Korea's territorial rights to Dokdo through joint international, humanitarian and sociological research. It collects and analyzes Dokdo-related materials from foreign institutions, such as the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
Programs also foster outstanding talent in related fields, conduct education and training initiatives, engage in public relations activities and publish Dokdo materials.
Research is done on scenarios in which the Dokdo case is referred to international court. International court systems and similar cases are studied to establish scenarios preparing for international court cases.
The center also identifies uncategorized materials on Dokdo in South Korea and prepares and annotates a list of Dokdo-related materials in the United States and Japan. Researchers also monitor domestic and international trends related to Dokdo and form short and long-term response measures.