Exploring historical sites of Dokdo

A signpost indicating Dokdo Isabu-gil stands on the eastern islet of Dokdo. Korea Times photo by Choi Da-won

By Hankookilbo

• Published Jun 15, 2026 11:29 AM KST
• Updated Jun 15, 2026 12:16 PM KST

Ancient records, monuments back Korea's territorial sovereignty

In May 1881, amid growing foreign encroachment on the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), King Gojong appointed military officer Lee Gyu-won as inspector of Ulleungdo to respond to the illegal settlement of Japanese nationals on the island. Lee left Seoul on April 10 the following year, spent 15 days inspecting Ulleungdo and returned to Changdeok Palace on June 5 to report to the king.

According to Lee’s "Uldosan Sea Records," the Japanese had erected markers without permission on Ulleungdo and written "(Great Japan’s) Songdo" — in Japanese, Matsushima — on them.

"Those people are cunning and deceitful," Lee told Gojong, saying Joseon should send an official letter to Hanabusa Yoshitada, the Japanese minister, and another to Japan’s foreign ministry.

Gojong’s reply became the starting point for a long trail of records, monuments and territorial claims.

"Now that I see this, we cannot leave it neglected even for a moment," he said. "Even a single piece of land cannot be abandoned."

Lee answered that he would deliver the royal instruction to senior ministers, saying even an inch of ancestral territory could not be left unattended. Gojong’s push to clarify territorial sovereignty led to the 1883 Ulleungdo reclamation policy. Japan also banned its citizens from traveling to Ulleungdo, but they continued logging illegally. In 1900, Gojong issued Imperial Edict No. 41, upgrading Ulleungdo’s administrator to county magistrate and placing Dokdo under Ulleung County jurisdiction.

This was the situation just five years before Japan, during the Russo-Japanese War in January 1905, claimed Dokdo as "terra nullius" (ownerless land) and made it the first victim of its encroachment upon the Korean Peninsula. Historically, Dokdo had always been an island attached to Ulleungdo, but from that point onward it started to be labeled a "disputed territory," and unfounded sovereignty claims have continued to this day.

A four-day Ulleungdo-Dokdo field trip organized by the Northeast Asian History Foundation began June 4, following Lee’s route and reconstructing Dokdo’s history in chronological order. Exhibits at the Usanguk Museum and Dokdo Museum trace the record to Usanguk, an ancient polity centered on Ulleungdo.

First appearance in early records

The earliest record in that trail appears in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms," in the Okjeo section of the "Account of the Eastern Barbarians" in "Book of Wei." In A.D. 245, the Wei general Guanqiu Jian attacked Goguryeo and ordered Wang Qi, a local commander, to pursue King Dongcheon. Wang followed the order and advanced toward the East Sea, where Usanguk, an ancient nation located on Ulleungdo and Dokdo, was mentioned in a conversation with a local elder.

Usanguk entered Korean history more clearly in 512, when the "Samguk Sagi" recorded Silla Kingdom general Isabu’s conquest of the polity in the 13th year of King Jijeung. The state later maintained a vassal relationship with powers on the Korean Peninsula before repeated foreign invasions weakened it and the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) absorbed it as a dependent territory.

Korean scholarship treats records of Usanguk as relevant to Dokdo because Koreans long understood Dokdo as part of Ulleungdo. The 1454 "Geography Section of the Annals of King Sejong" recorded that Mureung, referring to Ulleungdo, and Usan, referring to Dokdo, could be seen from each other on a clear day, reflecting how closely the two place names were linked in historical records.

Diplomacy affirms Dokdo as Joseon territory

Japanese pirate raids made Ulleungdo difficult to inhabit, and Joseon carried out a repatriation policy that moved island residents back to the mainland. In 1693, fisherman An Yong-bok protested illegal Japanese fishing near Ulleungdo and Japan took him across the sea, bringing the sovereignty issue into official view. Three years later, An traveled to Japan again and raised the same issue. The Edo shogunate confirmed that Ulleungdo and Dokdo were not Japanese territory and issued a ban on Japanese travel to the islands.

That position continued into the modern period. In 1877, Japan’s Dajokan, or Grand Council of State, issued an order saying Ulleungdo and Dokdo had nothing to do with Japan.

Joseon then made island administration routine. After the An Yong-bok incident, the court introduced "suto" in 1694, a territorial inspection policy, regularly sending officials to Ulleungdo to examine its terrain, residents and local products. Inspectors traveled with entourages of up to 100 people and stayed on the island from as little as two days to as long as 17.

Sovereignty carved into stone

After each mission, inspectors submitted suto maps, six of which survive today. Researchers have also confirmed six rock-inscription sites on Ulleungdo’s cliffs, recording inspection officials’ names and the duration of their work. Unlike the maps, however, the inscriptions do not appear to have been mandatory.

The Taeha-ri inscriptions, carved along about 30 meters of rock face, have drawn renewed academic attention after researchers deciphered additional characters. In April, the Northeast Asian History Foundation conducted a comprehensive academic survey, produced rubbings of the inscriptions and compared suto maps with present-day place names and locations.

Japan’s war with Russia shifted the geopolitical landscape. The suto system ended in 1885, about 200 years after its introduction, when King Gojong decided to station a permanent island chief on Ulleungdo after developments including Lee’s dispatch. Less than two decades later, Japan went to war with Russia in February 1904 while competing for hegemony in East Asia, and Ulleungdo and Dokdo became Japanese military sites.

Traces remain at the sites of the western and southern watchtowers, which Japan built in 1904, and the northern watchtower, which it built in 1905. Those sites correspond to today’s Daepunggam Observatory, Dokdo Observatory and Seokpo Observatory. Japan also landed a submarine cable on Ulleungdo in 1904 to monitor the Russian fleet, linking Matsue in mainland Japan with Wonsan in present-day North Korea. A marker stands at the cable landing site.

Civilians take up Dokdo’s defense

After liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, Korea regained sovereignty over the peninsula. During the Korean War (1950-1953), Japan erected markers on Dokdo claiming the islets as Japanese territory, while Seoul regarded the incursions as illegal. In 1952, Ulleungdo residents formed a veterans association, and the following year, they organized the Dokdo Volunteer Forces.

Accounts differ on the group’s size and active period, but current law recognizes that 33 members landed on Dokdo on April 20, 1953, and disbanded on Dec. 30, 1956. The veteran troops received national honors for their role in preventing Japanese incursions, including their use of wooden cannons as decoys.

The Hankook Ilbo team traveling with the Northeast Asian History Foundation arrived on Dokdo’s eastern islet, Dongdo, at 10:45 a.m. on June 5. After a two-hour trip by administrative vessel from Sadong Port on Ulleungdo, the black outline of Seodo, the western islet, appeared at the edge of the deep blue horizon. Kim Yong-heon, commander of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency’s Dokdo Guard, and the guard dog, Daehan-i, greeted about 50 visitors from across the country.

Vastness was the first impression of the islands, where Kim Shin-yeol, Dokdo’s last civilian resident, died in March at age 88, leaving only about 30 military, police and fire personnel on the islets. Seodo and Dongdo together cover only 162,037 square meters, but the East Sea surrounded them like a vast natural wall, making the islets feel larger.

The first landmark was a round territorial marker bearing the words “the easternmost land of the Republic of Korea.” Up steep stairs at Mangyangdae, visitors saw Independence Gate Rock. Another marker, installed in 2012 after North Gyeongsang Province proposed it to then-President Lee Myung-bak, also stands there.

The Dokdo Guard quarters sit at the top of Dongdo, where about 20 personnel live. Kim proudly showed letters of encouragement sent by students from across the country. He also described the practical difficulties of life on Dokdo, including solar panels installed in front of the quarters that fail to work properly because of black-tailed gull droppings.

The visit ended after the team observed a rock inscription reading “Korean territory,” believed to have been carved by the Dokdo Volunteer Guards in June 1954. The safe landing brought relief, along with renewed emotion over efforts made across generations to defend Dokdo. Koreans often describe such a visit with the saying that one must build up virtue for three generations to reach the islets, a reference to the notoriously unpredictable maritime weather.

The subsequent trip around Ulleungdo revealed a different problem. Major historical sites tied to Dokdo had been largely neglected. Weeds covered Seokpo Observatory, the site of the northern watchtower and a place associated with the painful history of invasion, forcing visitors to push through brush. Nails protruded from damaged pavilions and decks, and access to the Japanese submarine cable landing site was difficult.

At Taeha-ri, a deck built directly below the inscriptions to make them easier to view has raised concerns that it could damage the carvings. At a foundation research report session held June 2, senior researcher Ko Gwang-ui said inscriptions may exist beneath the deck and called for further study.

Hong Sung-geun, head of the foundation’s Dokdo Research Center, said Ulleungdo’s historical sites are more than local cultural heritage.

“Historical sites on Ulleungdo are important evidence that show the history of sovereignty over Dokdo,” he said. “As Japan continues to make unjust claims over Dokdo, the government and local authorities need to establish systematic management and maintenance policies.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.