The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Senior US general warns of possible looming war with China

  • 3

    BLACKPINK sets 6 more Guinness records

  • 5

    Jang Keun-suk steps out of his comfort zone with 'The Bait'

  • 7

    ENA's new dating show to spotlight young adult's romance

  • 9

    Cabinet ministries turn deaf ear to watchdog's advice on sexual minorities

  • 11

    Seoul to work with Hanoi to pursue peace on Korean peninsula

  • 13

    Korea's rice consumption hits another low in 2022: data

  • 15

    To speak Korean

  • 17

    12 websites still unavailable after Chinese cyberattacks

  • 19

    Indonesia celebrates 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Korea via virtual event

  • 2

    People attempt to cut surging heating costs with creative solutions

  • 4

    National pension anticipated to be fully drained in 2055: NPS

  • 6

    TXT brings together 'pansori' and fairy tale in new song 'Sugar Rush Ride'

  • 8

    Bad weather disrupts operation of Jeju airport again after 3 days

  • 10

    More Korean manufacturers enjoy Georgia's hospitality

  • 12

    Superintendent of Seoul Education Office gets suspended jail term

  • 14

    Opposition leader Lee claims innocence in corruption probe

  • 16

    Police to build disaster prediction system to prevent recurrence of Itaewon tragedy

  • 18

    SK E&S retains gov't support for Barossa gas project in Australia

  • 20

    Cambodian ministers highlight potential for growth, cooperation

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
Sun, January 29, 2023 | 18:23
Lesson Learned From Dokdo
Posted : 2009-07-12 17:44
Updated : 2009-07-12 17:44
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Tong Kim

``Accurate history should be based on facts (and) evidence as to what really happened … Whether the past was pleasant or tragic, history must be understood for what it is. And (shared) truth will contribute to building trust and peace between nations."

These are the words of Kim Yong-deok, president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, who spoke at a recent conference on the issue of the island of Dokdo. The conference was held at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C.

Dokdo, consisting of two rocky islets, has been called several different names in the past, but today the island is called Dokdo by Koreans and Takeshima by the Japanese. The standard name by the U.S. Board on Geographical Names (BGN) is Liancourt under the country category of South Korea and Take-shima under that of Japan. However, the BGN makes it clear that its geographical names do not necessarily reflect ``the U.S. view of the sovereignty over geographical features."

These names reflect differences among Korea, Japan and the United States regarding the question of sovereignty. The names embody a saga of disputes between the two neighboring adversaries, with the United States taking an evasive neutral position, which still is the case today. Both Korea and Japan lay territorial claims on Dokdo on the basis of their respective interpretation of historic documents and geographical relations with the island.

The focus on the Dokdo debate can be divided into two periods: the period preceding the ``incorporation" of Dokdo by Japan, which considered it as a terra nullius in 1905, and the postwar period of U.S. occupation of Japan until the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1952, which chose to exclude any mention of Dokdo.

For the period before 1905, the evidence from documents and maps published both in Korea and Japan heavily weighs in favor of Korea's claim that it had long regarded the islets as its territory. The Koreans find a strong piece of evidence to support their claim in the Japanese government documents of 1877 - by the Ministry of Interior and the Supreme Council of State ― which declared that Dokdo and Ulleungdo were ``unrelated to Japan." As documented, Japanese citizens had visited Ulleungdo but not Dokdo. Ulleungdo had been taken over by the Shilla Dynasty in the 6th century.

Japan's incorporation of 1905 was the beginning of Japan's unilateral encroachment of Korean territory. In that year the secret Taft-Katsura agreement was signed. By the agreement, the United States gave Japan control of Korea in exchange of Japan's recognition of U.S. interests in the Philippines, as both were following in the footsteps of imperialist competition.

Korea was weak and defenseless against Japan's imperialist ambition of territorial expansion. In 1905, Korea was forced into a Japanese ``protectorate" and consequently a Japanese colony in 1910. If Japan had established its sovereignty long before 1905, as it argues, why was it necessary to incorporate the island that was already its own land?

In 1900, the Korean government had issued an ordinance that had put Dokdo under the jurisdiction of the Ulleungdo County, from which Dokdo is visible on a clear day. But then Korea would soon lose its independence. Dokdo was taken by Japan's ``greed" as the maxim goes, ``The strong eats the weak."

There is ample evidence in U.S. documents and academic literature showing that after the end of the Pacific War, the United States vacillated in determining the sovereignty of Dokdo between the positions of Korea and Japan, both of whom would serve U.S. strategic interest at the burgeoning period of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Initial drafts of the peace treaty with Japan treated Liancourt as Korean territory until the Japanese foreign ministry claimed its possession of the island partially on the ground that the Korean name of Dokdo was not found on the maps made in Korea. The Potsdam Declaration limited Japan's territory to four main islands, pending the rights over ``such minor islands as we determine." Without consulting Korea and without an effort to search historic evidence, the United States changed its position on the disputed island in the final version of the treaty.

It was a departure from the Potsdam Declaration that should expel Japan from all territories which she took by ``violence and greed," and the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers' Instructions No. 677 and No. 1033 that excluded Dokdo from Japan's administrative authority and prohibited Japanese nationals from approaching within 10 miles of Dokdo. The peace treaty excluded any mention of Dokdo, causing it to be a continuing dispute between Korea and Japan.

The division of Korea was an unintentional historic accident that took place at the military expediency of the United Sates to receive the surrender of the Imperial Japanese Army in Korea. But the U.S. inaction that avoided effectuating Japan's renunciation of its claim on Dokdo was intentional. At one time the Americans used Dokdo as a bombing range.

There have been some minor clashes and close calls over Dokdo in recent years. Japan has proposed to take the issue to the International Court of Justice whose arbitration would have no binding effect, and Korea has rejected it. Korea today has established ``effective occupation" of the Dokdo islets on which Korea built a lighthouse, a helipad, small port facilities and barracks for maritime police guards armed with small arms and mortars. Also, two fishermen are known to live on the island, which became a tourist attraction to South Koreans.

Some argue that the dispute should be referred to a multilateral forum for arbitration. Some even suggest that the dispute should be resolved as part of a package solution of other territorial disputes involving China, Japan and Russia. But that would be impractical in several aspects not to mention the question of determining participants in such a forum. Given the history of Japan's colonial rule, the Korean people have a strong feeling about the island and they are determined to protect it from the Japanese claim.

The Dokdo issue has become a rallying point for all Koreans of the North and the South, and no Korean government, incumbent or future, can afford to risk unpredictable arbitration by a third party or a group of third parties.

Koreans are comfortable with the historic evidence that supports their sovereignty over Dokdo. They want to move on from the unfortunate past toward peace and friendship with Japan, by sharing the truth of history and the applicability of international law regarding the sovereignty of Dokdo.

What's your take?

Tong Kim is a research professor with the Ilmin Institute of International Relations at Korea University and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He can be reached at tong.kim8@yahoo.com.
 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1Cambodian ministers highlight potential for growth, cooperationCambodian ministers highlight potential for growth, cooperation
2Suicidal pedestrian saved over Han River bridge Suicidal pedestrian saved over Han River bridge
3[INTERVIEW] Busan has potential to be world-class city, says mayorINTERVIEWBusan has potential to be world-class city, says mayor
4Korea to lift indoor mask mandate MondayKorea to lift indoor mask mandate Monday
5Hana unveils vision to become Asia's best financial group Hana unveils vision to become Asia's best financial group
6Seoul International School celebrates 50th anniversary Seoul International School celebrates 50th anniversary
7Youth, foreign drug offenders increase threefold in 5 years Youth, foreign drug offenders increase threefold in 5 years
8Slowed Fed rate hike, China's reopening to boost KOSPI Slowed Fed rate hike, China's reopening to boost KOSPI
9Bank operating hours return to normal amid union opposition Bank operating hours return to normal amid union opposition
10Japan considers upholding past apologies to mend ties with Korea Japan considers upholding past apologies to mend ties with Korea
Top 5 Entertainment News
1BLACKPINK sets 6 more Guinness records BLACKPINK sets 6 more Guinness records
2Jang Keun-suk steps out of his comfort zone with 'The Bait' Jang Keun-suk steps out of his comfort zone with 'The Bait'
3TXT brings together 'pansori' and fairy tale in new song 'Sugar Rush Ride' TXT brings together 'pansori' and fairy tale in new song 'Sugar Rush Ride'
4ENA's new dating show to spotlight young adult's romance ENA's new dating show to spotlight young adult's romance
5Kim Jung-hyun returns to small screen with 'Kokdu: Season of Deity' Kim Jung-hyun returns to small screen with 'Kokdu: Season of Deity'
DARKROOM
  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

  • World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

    World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

wooribank
CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group