[In Progress] The Historical Scars of Japanese Imperialism Still Haunt the Korean Island Dokdo

1. Dok do - a Symbol of Korean Restored Sovereignty

Dokdo is near enough to be visible from Ulleungdo on a clear day. During the days of the Korean kingdom of Joseon, Dokdo and Ulleungdo were part of Uljin County Gangwon Province. In 1900, the Empire of Korea set up Uldo (Ulleungdo) County to govern the islands. Dokdo became the very first prey of Japan's imperialist invasions, falling under Japanese control in the early twentieth century. It returned to Korean sovereignty when Korea was liberated on August 15, 1945. For that reason, Dokdo became a symbol of Korea's complete liberation and restored sovereignty. 

During the Russo-Japanese War, Japan worked behind the scenes to incorporate Dokdo into its own territory through a war cabinet vote in January of 1905. Japan eventually took over the entire Korean peninsula five years later, but why had it been in such a hurry to occupy Dokdo beforehand?

Japan may have needed Dokdo as a strategic location to win the war with Russia. However, according to the "Korea-Japan Protocol," which Korea was forced to sign in February of 1904, Japan had already been able to occupy or expropriate any part of land on the Korean peninsula for military purposes, meaning Japan did not necessarily have to go through territorial incorporation to take advantage of Dokdo for military purposes.

Japan's foremost reason for annexing Dokdo had to do with its own concerns over uncertainties in relation with the international political circumstances and prospects surrounding Japan. As early as 1894, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already begun to launch studies to search for ways to make Joseon a protectorate of Japan. The Treaty of Bardo in 1881, which forced Tunisia into a protectorate of France by military threats, had been studied by Japan. Japan studied colonization policies used by Western powers to identify precedents that could be applied to Joseon without interference from such powers. Not only was Japan still at war with Russia in January if 1905 but it still had vivid memories of having given up the Liaodong Peninsula by the Triple (England, France and Russia) Intervention of 1895, even after having won the First Sino-Japanese War. It was therefore difficult for Japan to be assured of the future result of its ambitions on Joseon. Succinctly stated, Japan's foremost reasons for seeking to incorporate Dokdo as its own territory were for strategic purposes in the Russo-Japanese War and to use the island as a military bridgehead later to stop Russia from expanding into the East Sea.

From a historical point of view, annexing Dokdo in January of 1905 was the first step Japan took on its way to the usurpation of Korea's sovereignty in 1910, revealing its imperialistic ambition to turn Korea into a Japanese colony. This trajectory is what makes recovery of Dokdo a symbol of Korea's restored sovereignty and the complete liberation of Koreans and a precondition for Korea to be able to foster normal diplomatic relations with Japan. Upon Japan's provocation over Dokdo, Byeon Young-tae, the Republic of Korea's third minister of foreign affairs, left the following remark worthy of being inscribed in history: 

Dokdo was the first to fall prey to Japan's invasion of Korea. With Japan's defeat, Dokdo made it back into the arms of Korea. Dokdo is a symbol of Korean independence. Anyone who dares to lay their hands on the island must be prepared to face steadfast resistance from the whole of the Korean nation. Dokdo is not a few lumps of rock, but an anchor of Korea's territorial waters. How can we expect to preserve Korea's independence if we lose Dokdo! Japan's attempt to claim Dokdo therefore suggests a reinvasion of Korea.

II. Japan's Takeover of Dokdo: A Precursor to its Annexation of Korea

1. Increasing Japanese Political Influence in Korea during the Late 19th Century

After concluding the Joseon-Japan Treaty of Amity in 1876, Japan rapidly broadened its influence throughout Joseon, and bilateral relations between the two countries began to be redefined. Japan's unrivaled political influence over Joseon became established once it won the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. Japan thereafter used all possible means to consolidate its control over Joseon. This consolidation of Japanese power even led to the brutal assassination of the Korean Empress Myeonseong on October 8, 1895, by a group of Japanese policemen and ronin samurais who infiltrated Gyeongbok Palace under orders from Miura Goro, Japan's resident minister in Korea at the time. Empress Myeongseong had been a target whom Japan wished to eliminate because she had reached out to Russia to counter Japan's growing influence. 

By the time the Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904, Korea had practically become reduced to a territory occupied by the Japanese army. Soon after going to war with Russia, Japan forced Korea into entering the Korea-Japan Protocol in February of 1904 that would enable Japan to expropriate any part of the Korea Empire deemed necessary for military purposes. A few months later, in April, Japan set up the Headquarter of its Occupation Forces in Korea and deployed its forces across the entire Korean territory. By July of 1905, the extent of land the Japanese forces declared expropriated for military purposes amounted to as much as 32.23 million square meters.

2. Japan's Strategic Interest in Dokdo: The Russo-Japanese War 

In 1869, three officials were dispatched from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Japanese Meiji government to spy on the situation in Joseon and compile a detailed account as to how Ulleungdo and Dokdo came to be part of Joseon. In 1870, their findings were used to draft the confidential report titled "Secret Survey on the Relations with Joseon". One of the chapters was titled "The Particulars of How Takeshima (Ulleungdo) and Matsushima (Dokdo) Became Part of Joseon," indicating that the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had recognized Ulleungdo and Dokdo as territory of Joseon.

Seven years later, in 1877, an order issued by Daijo-kan, the Japanese Grand Council of State, again confirmed that Dokdo was not part of Japan. Nevertheless, Japan's attempts to incorporate the island into its own territory suddenly intensified during the Russo-Japanese War. 

The Japanese military recognized the strategic value of Ulleungdo and Dokdo from the early stage of the war with Russia. The two islands were located at strategic routes through which the Russian fleet traveling south from Vladivostok would run into Japan's combined fleet. Their locations made the islands the best place to install watch towers to look out for the Russian Baltic Fleet entering the East Sea. On September 1, 1904, based on these strategic considerations, the Japanese navy set up watchtowers on the west and south sides of Ulleungdo. Subsequently, they dispatched the cruiser Niitaka to survey Dokdo for the installation of a watch tower. Interestingly, the name "Dokdo" appears in Niitaka's log for September 25, 1904, which means that the Korean name of Dokdo had been used prior to its Japanese name "Takesima," which first appeared in the Shimane Prefectural Notice No.40 in 1905.

A Japanese fishing entrepreneur named Nakai Yozaburo of Shimane Prefecture submitted a petition on September 29, 1904, to the Japanese government asking for the incorporation of Dokdo as Japanese territory. Nakai's intention was to monopolize the hunting of eared seals living around Dokdo. Apparently recognizing Dokdo as a Korean island, he intended to submit a petition to Korea through the Japanese government to obtain a lease for the island. However, several people, including Kimotsuki kaneyuki, the director of the Navy Ministry's hydrographic department, encouraged Nakai to file for the territorial incorporation of Dokdo with the Japanese government instead. However, the Home Ministry's Secretary Inoue was against Nakai's petition. The reason, according to Nakai Yozaburo's 1906 "Overview of Business Operations", was that "incorporating some useless rocks that were originally Korean territory would only attract greater suspicion from other countries that Japan intends to annex Korea."

When his petition was dismissed by the Home Ministry, Nakai turned to Yamaza Enjiro, the director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' political affairs bureau. Yamaza's reaction was completely different from that of the Home Ministry. "The current state of affairs makes territorial incorporation (of Dokdo) more necessary than ever. Wouldn't installing a watchtower as well as radio or submarine cables (around Dokdo) be useful in looking out for enemy warships?" (Nakai Yozaburo, "Overview of Business Operations," 1906) The Japanese Navy subsequently sent the cruiser Tsushima to Dokdo in November of 1904 to investigate whether the island would be suitable for installing a watch tower and communication facilities. Shortly afterwards, on January 1, 1905, Lushun, also known as Port Arthur, fell into the hands of the Japanese military, forcing the Baltic Fleet of Russia to switch its destination to Vladivostok. At last, Dokdo became a strategic surveillance location for Japan's purpose of destroying the Baltic Fleet.

3. Shimane Prefectural Notice. 40 

Amid pressing circumstances surrounding the Russo-Japanese War, Japan's war cabinet also set into motion a detailed plan to encroach upon Dokdo. On January 10, 1905, Home Minister Yoshikawa Akimasa sent a classified note to Prime Minister Katsura Taro "On the Affiliation of the Uninhabited Island," requesting that a cabinet meeting be held to discuss the incorporation of Dokdo. The decision to incorporate Dokdo was made at a cabinet meeting held a few weeks later on January 28. Consequently, on February 22, 1905, the Governor of Shimane Prefecture proclaimed "Shiname Prefectural Notice No. 40" declaring that Dokdo was incorporated into the jurisdiction of the magistrate of the Oki Islands. 

However, Dokdo was not a terra nullius at the time because Japan's Meiji government had already concluded, after a five-month investigation in 1877, that Dokdo did not belong to Japanese territory. Furthermore, the government of the Korean Empire clearly specified through Imperial Ordinance No. 40, issued in 1900, that "Seokdo," another name for Dokdo, was under the jurisdiction of the magistrate of Uldo (Ulleungdo). Therefore, by January of 1905, the Japanese government must have been aware of the fact that Dokdo was Korean territory. As such, the fact that Japan's unilateral act of incorporating Dokdo cannot under any circumstances be recognized as a legally valid act that can justify Japan's claims of territorial sovereignty over the island. Additionally, it has recently been revealed that no original copy of the Shimane Prefectural Notice No. 40 remains. Japan's explanation is that the original copy was destroyed in a fire that occurred at the Shimane Prefectural Office on August 24, 1945.

Japan also argues that the Korean Empire did not raise any objections to its incorporation of Dokdo in 1905. However, throughout the process of Japan's incorporation of Dokdo, no official notification or announcement was made to either the government of the Korean Empire, whose interests were directly involved, or to the international society at large. In addition, because that process was carried out covertly, ordinary citizens of Japan at the time were unaware of the fact that the Japanese government had incorporated Dokdo. 

It was not until March 1906, only after having been coerced into signing the Eulsa Protectorate Treaty the previous year, that the Korean Empire first learned of Japan's illegal incorporation of Dokdo. A group of Japanese government officials from Shimane Prefecture visiting Uldo (Ulleungdo) informed the island's magistrate, Shim Heung-taek, about the incorporation. It was then reported to the central government in Seoul through the Governor of Gangwon Province. Deputy Prime Minister Bak Je-sun of the Korean State Council criticized Japan's actions upon hearing the news and ordered an investigation. However, his order for an investigation had no effect because Korea had already been deprived of its diplomatic sovereignty by its signing of the Eulsa Protectorate Treaty, and Korea had no further means of diplomatic protest. 

III. Dokdo, an Old Territory of Korea from Ancient Times

1. Geographic Proximity between Ulleungdo and Dokdo

1) Dokdo, a dependent island of Ulleungdo 

Dokdo is a dependent island of Ulleungdo and the two are within a visible distance from each other. You can see Dokdo from Ulleungdo on a clear day and even take nice pictures of Dokdo with a regular camera. In the past, when motor-driven vessels did not exist, visible islands within a day's navigation were all considered to be part of the same community. Consequently, people living on Ulleungdo naturally thought of Dokdo as an annex of Ulleungdo. Even the geographical appendix to Sejong sillok, the Annals of King Sejong (1454), documented that "the two islands, meaning Ulleungdo and Dokdo, are not far apart so that they can see each other on clear days."

The Japanese territory close to Dokdo is Shimane Prefecture's Oki Islands at the northwest end of the Japanese archipelago. However, you cannot see Dokdo from Oki Islands Dokdo is a mere 87.4 kilometers away from the southeast of Ulleungdo, whereas Oki Islands lies 157.5 kilometers from Dokdo to its northwest.

2) Dokdo, an Island located outside of Japanese Borders

The jiriji, or geographical appendix, to the Annals of King Sejong recorded that "there are two islands in the East Sea called Usando (Dokdo) and Mureungdo (Ulleungdo)." Paldo chongdo, or "a Complete Map of the Eight Provinces", included in a revised and augmented gazetteer of Korea, the Sinjeung dongguk yeojiseungnam, also clearly marked the presence of the two islands Usando (Dokdo) and Ullengdo in the sea to the east of Gangwon Province. A compilation of documents on Korea, the Dongguk munheonbigo, provides a more detailed account by noting that "Ulleung and Usan both belong to the kingdom of Usan, and Usan is what the Japanese call Matsushima." This record indicates that the Japanese at the time used the name Matsushima to refer to Dokdo. 

The earliest Japanese record to mention Dokdo is Onshu shicho goki, comprised of observations at Oki Province compiled in 1667 by Saito Kansuke, a government official based at Izumo. Onshu shicho goki documents that "Onshu is located in the middle of the North Sea, ... ... A two day trip away to its northwest is Matsushima (Dokdo). It takes one more day of traveling beyond there to get to Takeshima (Ulleungdo). Those two islands are no man's land and to behold Goryeo (Joseon) from them is akin to beholding Onshu from Unshu. Therefore, this province (Onshu, or Oki Islands) is where the northwestern border of Japan lies." This statement makes Onshu shicho goki a critical piece of evidence that proves the Japanese at the time did not recognize Dokdo as part of their own territory.

2. Historical Legitimacy: Joseon exercised its sovereign Rule over Ulleungdo and Dokdo

1) An Yong-bok's Activities and the Ulleungdo Dispute in the 17th Century

According to the Sukjong sillok, or the Annals of King Sukjong, a Joseon fisherman named An Yong-bok clashed with Japanese fishermen of the Oya family while fishing near Ulleungdo. He was kidnapped and taken to Japan's Oki Islands in 1693, the 19th year of King Sukjong's reign. The governor of Oki Province transported An Yong-bok and his fellow captive, turning them over to the magistrate of Hoki State. Before Hoki State's magistrate of Hoki State. Before Hoki State's magistrate, An Yong-bok noted that Ulleungdo is a territory of Joseon and requested that the Japanese be banned from fishing around the island. Hoki State's magistrate in turn reported this to the Tokugawa shogunate, which issued a document stating that "Ulleungdo is not part of Japanese territory" and released An Yong-bok and his fellow captive to return to Joseon. This incident triggered the so-called "Ulleungdo Dispute" between Joseon and Japan.

In 1696, the 22nd year of King Sukjong's reign, after running into Japanese fishermen at Ulleungdo once more, An Yong-bok again paid a visit to the governor of Oki Province to demand an end to repeated trespasses by the Japanese. An Yong-bok's activities ended up prompting the central governments of Joseon and Japan to make their first diplomatic contact regarding the territorial sovereignty of Ulleungdo, with the governor of Tsushima Island acting as a delegate of the Japanese bakufu. As a result, the Japanese bakufu imposed a ban on Japanese fishermen from traveling to Ulleungdo in 1696, and officially acknowledged that Ulleungdo is part of Joseon's territory in 1696. Even back then, Dokdo and Ulleungdo were considered as a single cluster. 

A detailed account of the An Yong-bok incident can be found in the Joseon wangjo sillok, a record also known as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, designated a UNESCO world heritage artifact in 1997. An Yong-bok's actions and the Tokugawa shogunate's decision are also well documented in Japanese records from the Genroku period. Further, in 2005, a Japanese document titled "Memorandum on the Arrival of a Vessel from Joseon in the Ninth Year of Genroku" (1696) was uncovered. The memorandum contains findings from the interrogation of An Yong-bok and those who accompanied him on his second trip to Japan in 1696, including details of An Yong-bok's testimony arguing that Ulleungdo and Dokdo were Joseon's territory. Such details correspond with those in the Sukjong sillok, supporting the veracity of the record. 

2) Territorial Management through a Government Patrol System

After the Ulleungdo Dispute, the Joseon government dispatched Jang Han-sang in 194, the 20th year of King Sukjong's reign, to Ulleungdo. A system of patrolling the island once every three years was established from then on.  Suto, or patrolling, would usually involve tracking down and penalizing people from both Joseon and Japan for illegal entry onto Ulleungdo, but its purpose actually had more to do with territorial management. For instance, when Joseon government officials once proposed that patrol of Ulleungdo be put off due to national financial difficulties brought about by a poor harvest, King Youngjo told them that "we can stop sending patrols if we intend to permanently abandon the land(Ulleungdo), but if we do not intend to do so, how can we not send (a patrol officer)?" (from the entry for January 17 of the 11th year of King Youngjo's reign in volume no. 793 of Seungjeongwon ilgi, or the Diaries of the Royal Secretariat). This answer clearly suggests the king's dedication to guarding national territory. 

Once an officer finished patrolling Ulleungdo, he would usually present the king with local specialties produced on the island. The act of doing so came from the traditional territorial notion that "there is no land in the whole country that does not belong to the king". Among the specialties from Ulleungdo were sandalwood incense, green bamboo, sea lion hide, and red-colored clay called seokganju. Although a poor harvest or other exceptional circumstances did affect the patrol cycle from time to time, the patrol of Ulleungdo continued until an inspector was appointed in 1895 to govern the island.

3) The Hachiemon Incident and the Ban on Travelling to Takeshima (Ulleungdo) in the Early 19th Century

In 1836, a Japanese named Hachiemon was arrested by the Bakufu for attempting to illegally sell to foreign ships at Takeshima (Ulleungdo) swords, bows, and guns, which he had purchased in Japan and brought there by boat. To secretly travel with the goods to Takeshima (Ulleungdo) as well as Matsushima (Dokdo), Hachiemon colluded with government officials of the Hamada Domain, where he had been living. Hachiemon was eventually executed for being the main culprit, and the Hamada Domain officials involved in the incident were ordered to commit the ritual suicide act of harakiri.

This incident prompted the Tokugawa shogunate to issue a "ban on traveling to Takeshima (Ulleungdo)" from the port in Hamada Domain and other major ports along the Japanese coast.

"Upon completing the investigation on Hachiemon's Takeshima, Hachiemon and the others involved in the incident have each been severely penalized. The island was handed over to Joseon during the Genroku period. Since sailing to any foreign territory has been banned, traveling to that particular island should likewise not be attempted."

4) Japan's Cadastral Survey and the Daijo-kan Order (1877)

The order issued by the Daijo-kan, the highest organ of Japan's Meiji government, to the Home Ministry in 1877 is yet another critical piece of evidence proving that Japan had recognized that territorial sovereignty over Dokdo belonged to Joseon. During the process of conducting cadastral surveys and map compilation projects, Shimane Prefecture submitted an inquiry to the Home Ministry on October 16, 1876 to ask whether Takeshima (Ulleungdo) and Matsushima (Dokdo) should be included within the boundary of its jurisdiction. After performing an in-depth review of the documents submitted by Shimane Prefecture and those the governments of Japan and Joseon had exchanged since the late seventeenth century, the Home Ministry arrived at the conclusion that Takeshima (Ulleungdo) and Matsushima (Dokdo) had nothing to do with Japan.

However, because determining territorial domain was an important matter, Japan's Home Ministry submitted a request to the Daijo-kan for approval of its conclusion on March 17, 1877. Three days later, the Daijo-kan responded to the request by ordering the Home Ministry to, "bear in mind that Takeshima and the other island have no association with our country. "The 'other island' in the order refers to Dokdo and 'our country' refers to Japan. This order was passed down to the Home Ministry on March 29 and was then delivered to Shimane Prefecture on April 9. Consequently, these developments clearly show that Japan's Meiji government had confirmed that Ulleungdo and Dokdo were not part of its territory.

3. Imperial Ordinance No.41 (1900): The Korean Empire's Exercise of Jurisdiction

On October 25, 1900,  the Korean Empire issued Imperial Ordinance No. 41 to proclaim that Dokdo belonged under its jurisdiction. A few months before the ordinance was issued, an investigator named Wu Yong-jeong was sent to Ulleungdo on June 1, 1900, by order of the Joseon Home Minister. The report Wu Yong-jeong drafted at the time about the "Incident involving Japanese people on Ulleungdo" offers a vivid, detailed description of the conflict between the Korean Empire and Japan that took place around 1900 over the illegal habitation and logging committed by the Japanese. This Japanese encroachment is also documented in a report by^[각주:1] the Frenchman, E. Laporte, after he personally investigated Ulleungdo in 1899.

On June 3, 1900, Wu Yong-jeong announced to the officials and people of Ulleungdo an order to observe the government ban. To protect Ulleungdo's forest, everyone, regardless of their nationality, was banned from logging and shipbuilding on the island, not to mention from entering the island under a contract with the Japanese to fell zelkovas. 

Furthermore, Deputy Prime Minister Bak Je-sun of the Korean State Council met with the Japanese Minister to Korea, Hayashi Gonsuke, to discuss matters involving Ulleungdo. The following is what Hayashi officially communicated to Bak Je-sun after the meeting, which Bak Je-sun shared with Home Minister, Yi Geon-ha, on Septermber 12, 1900: "The Japanese government hereby informs the Korean imperial government that if the Korean Empire provides a small boat, the Japanese government will order the Japanese Minister to Korea to issue a subpoena and interrogate and try the involved perpetrators in Japan's court of law." This communication proves that the Japanese Minister to Korea himself also considered Japanese people living on Ulleungdo to^[각주:2] be in breach of the inter-governmental agreement between Japan and Korea.

These were the developments that led to the Korean Empire's issuance of Imperial Ordinance No. 40, which changed the name of Ulleungdo to Uldo and promoted the island inspector dogam to gunsu as well as the island's administrative status to a country under Gangwon Province. The country's jurisdiction was to include the whole of Ulleungdo, Jukdo, and Seokdo. Jukdo refers to the bamboo island right beside Ulleungdo and Seokdo refers to Dokdo. Prior to full-scale development of Ulleungdo in 1883, people from Korea's Jeolla Province began immigrating to the island, and others from the the provinces of Gyeongsang and Gangwon gradually joined them later. Those people called Dokdo by the name "Dokseom." The character "seok" in Seokdo was used to indicate "dol" or "dok," which means rock in the dialect of Jeolla Province and later became replaced by the Chinese character for official government records with the same pronunciation "dok". This is how "Dolseom" came to be called "Seokdo" or "Dokdo."

The Korean Empire promulgated Imperial Ordinance No. 41 through the empire's official gazette (no. 1716) published on October 27, 1900. The publication, issued five years earlier than Japan's "territorial incorporation of Dokdo," was to serve as a domestic and international declaration of the fact that Dokdo is Korean territory under the control of the governor of Uldo County. 

IV. Dokdo After Korea's Liberation 

1. Japan's Defeat and Korea's Recovery of Territorial Sovereignty over Dokdo

With Japan's unconditional surrender at the end of the Second World War, Korea regained control over its former territory, including Dokdo. Three years later, on August 15, 1948, the government of the Republic of Korea was established and recognized as a member of the international community by many countries around the world as well as the United Nations.

The Cairo Declaration, announced in 1943 at the peak of the Second World War, stipulated that, "Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed." The Potsdam Declaration of 1945 confirmed the need to carry out the Cairo Declaration by stating that "Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine." Japan unconditionally accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration upon announcing its surrender on August 15, 1945. On January 29, 1946, the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers' Instruction (SCAPIN) No. 677 based on guidelines delineating Japanese territory that had been suggested during the war. The instruction designated that Japan's governmental or administrative authority would be limited to the aforementioned islands and the islands attached to them and that Dokdo, Ulleungdo and Jejudo be excluded from Japanese territory. 

The 1951 Treaty of Peace with Japan identified Japan's responsibilities for instigating aggression and waging war and defined the extent of Japan's territory. The treaty states in Article 2 (a) that "Japan recognizing the independence of Korea, renounces all right, title and claim to Korea, including the islands of Quelpart (Jeju Island), Port Hamilton (Geomun Island) and Dagelet (Ulleungdo Island)." The Japanese argue that it validates their incorporation of the island in 1905 because Dokdo is not explicitly mentioned in this article. What exactly, then, was the 1951 Treaty of Peace with Japan designed to do?

The Treaty of Peace with Japan, also known as the San Francisco Peace Treaty, was the instrument through which the Allied Powers imposed a series of restrictions on Japan in exchange for allowing it to regain its sovereignty. It was an enforcement treaty between the victors and the vanquished, which means its purpose was to assign obligations to the vanquished, not to acknowledge the extended rights of the vanquished. In terms of territory, the treaty's articles trimmed down and "limited" Japanese territory back to its minimum original extent prior to Japan's acquisition of territories through aggression. This was a principle that was consistently upheld from the Cairo Declaration to the San Francisco Peace Treaty. As such, bringing up the treaty to maximize its territory hints at the irrationality of Japan's argument. Moreover, Korean sovereignty had already been reinstated and consequently Korea had already been exercising its territorial sovereignty over Dokdo by April of 1952, when the Treaty of Peace with Japan came into effect. Therefore, the treaty has no relevancy for defining the territorial extent of Korea as a sovereign country. 

2. Instances of Bombing Exercises by the American Air Force on Dokdo and Korea's Peace Line Declaration 

On June 8, 1948, near the end of the U.S. occupation of Korea, the U.S. Air Force conducted a bombing exercise over Dokdo, killing fourteen Korean fishermen and injuring many others. At the time, the island had been designated a bombing range of the U.S. military according to SCAPIN No. 1778 issued on September 16, 1947. Recognizing the seriousness of the incident, the U.S. military made reparations to the victims of the bombing in due course. The Republic of Korea's government also held a ceremony on Dokdo on June 8, 1950 to unveil a cenotaph erected there for victimized fishermen. 

Unfortunately, U.S. military "bombing exercises" continued to occur. Subsequent bombings occurred on the 15th, 22nd, and 24th of September in 1952. A team of researchers led by Hong Jong-in had been nearby at the time to conduct an academic survey of Ulleungdo and Dokdo and Dokdo. The team, however, was forced to turn back without being able to set foot on Dokdo because the island was bombed each time they tried to approach it. The series of bombings raised suspicion that they were not merely part of a military exercise but had been carried out under ulterior motives. That was because the bombings coincided with Japan raising its voice in regard to territorial claims over Dokdo. 

Prior to the bombings in 1952, the Republic of Korea's government issued a four-point declaration, the "Proclamation of Sovereignty over the Adjacent Sea" (also known as the Peace Line Declaration) on January 18, 1952. Because the San Francisco Peace Treaty would be coming into effect around the same time and the MacArthur Line would subsequently be abolished, South Korea had concerns that Japanese fishing boats would swarm into its waters. Hence, the declaration's purpose was not only to demarcate South Korea's maritime boundaries but also to spell out South Korea's rights to all the natural resources, including fisheries and minerals in the adjacent waters surrounding the Korean peninsula and its nearby islands. Of course, the Peace Line was drawn outside Dokdo. 

Japan responded by beginning to more explicitly claim territorial sovereignty over Dokdo. Active discussions occurred at the Japanese Diet on measures that could be taken against the Peace Line Declaration. In a foreign affairs committee meeting held on May 23, 1952 at the Japanese House of Representatives, Diet member Yamamoto Toshinaga asked the following question to Vice-Foreign Minister Ishihara Kanichiro : "In terms of nominating the practice range of occupation forces in Japan, is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hoping for the area surrounding Dokdo to be designated a practice range because that might be an easier way to obtain confirmation of Japan's territorial sovereignty over the island?" Vice-Foreign Minister Ishihara remarked that "various attempts are being carried out along that line of thought."

At a U.S.-Japan Joint Committee meeting held two months later, on July 26, 1952, Dokdo was designated a bombing range of the United States military. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed this decision on the same day through Public Announcement No. 34. The aforementioned three bombing exercises occurred a few months later in September. In a diplomatic document (note verbale) dated July 13, 1953, the Japanese government presented the bombings of Dokdo as grounds for claiming territorial sovereignty over the island. Given these political developments, it becomes difficult not to suspect that Japan intentionally brought in the United States forces to organize the bombing incidents so that Dokdo could become recognized as Japanese territory while Korea remained in chaos during the Korean War. 

A few months later, on November 10, 1952, the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent an official correspondence regarding the bombing incidents to the United States embassy in Korea calling attention to the fact that Dokdo is Korean territory and asking to prevent any further bombings from occurring. To this, the United States embassy in Korea responded on December 4 that "Dokdo will not be used as a bombing exercise range." The U.S. Far East Command thereafter discontinued performing bombing exercise on the island, and the U.S.-Japan Joint Committee decided to exclude Dokdo as a bombing range at a meeting held on March 19, 1953. This turn of events has been noted as an example showing that the United States respected South Korea's argument for territorial sovereignty over Dokdo.

3. Defending and Managing Dokdo

With the MacArthur Line abolished and South Korea in continual turmoil due to the Korean War, Japan took his opportunity to make provocations by approaching close to and even landing on Dokdo. More than ten provocations by Japan were attempted in the year 1953 alone. As the provocations increased, the residents of Ulleungdo organized a team of Dokdo. Korea has exercised control of the waters surrounding Dokdo and dispatched police to safeguard the island ever since. 

From 1947 to 1953, even during the Korean War, the South Korean government constantly performed academic surveys on Dokdo while guarding its territorial sovereignty over the island. In 1965, Mr. Choi Jong-deok, who lived on Ulleungdo and fished in the waters around Dokdo, built a shelter on Dokdo for fishermen and female divers to use. In 1981, Mr.Choi and his family moved their registered address to Dokdo. Later, the couple Kim Seong-do and Kim Shin-yeol moved their registered address to Dokdo, and they have been living at the island's residential building ever since. 

Dokdo is an administrative district of South Korea that occupies parcel numbers between 1 and 96 of Dokdo-ri, Ulleung-eup, Ulleung-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. There are approximately forty residents living on the island who are either civilians, government officials, or policemen. A total of 23 people from 22 households have their addresses registered on Dokdo, and the number of people who have designated Dokdo as their place of registration in their family roster amounts to 3,300 (as of December 31, 2016). Since the South Korean government lifted the restriction on entering Dokdo in 2005, more than 100,000 Korean and foreign visitors have traveled to the island each year and that number has continued to rise. In December of 2010, the Dokdo administrative office under Ulleung-gun began to issue an "Honorary Dokdo Resident Certificate" to those who visit the island. All sorts of installations and facilities have been placed on Dokdo to demonstrate that the island is part of Republic of Korea's territory, including a lighthouse, living quarters for the residents as well as the policemen, the cenotaph for victimized fishermen, and a territorial landmark. A monument was also erected to commemorate South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's visit to Dokdo in August of 2012.

V. Regional Security Implications of Japan's Territorial Claims on Dokdo 

1. Japan's Self-contradicting Arguments regarding its Claims over Dokdo

Japan originally made its claim over Dokdo's territorial sovereignty by advancing the legal argument of having acquired a terra nullius through occupation. However, Japan is now basing its claim upon the argument of "inherent" territory. The result is no more than a forced combination of two incompatible arguments, one arguing for the acquisition of a terra nullius through occupation and the other arguing for a territory that has "inherently" been its own. As noted, though, there is explicit evidence dating back to the seventeenth century of Japan repeatedly admitting that Dokdo is not a part of its territory. Despite the existence of solid facts and proof, Japan has continued to flagrantly claim its sovereignty over Dokdo. Such claims not only bring back to Koreans painful memories from when they were under the tyranny of Japanese imperialism but also make them remain in doubt as to whether it will ever be possible to build true friendly relations with Japan.

2. Trends in Japan's Territorial Claims over Dokdo

When Korea declared the Peace Line on January 18, 1952, Japan protested against the declaration through a note verbale and began to launch more serious claims over the territorial sovereignty of Dokdo. From 1953 onward, for example, people from Japan kept trespassing and installing territorial landmarks on Dokdo. On September 25, 1954, the Japanese government suggested for the first time to the Korean government taking the "sovereignty issue over Dokdo" to the International Court of Justice. However, as diplomatic relations became normalized when Korea and Japan entered the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations, Japan's provocations over the territorial sovereignty of Dokdo subsided temporarily. 

The phrase "Korea's illegal occupation of Dokdo" first appeared in Japan's Diplomatic Bluebook of 1971. Japanese patrol boats and fishing boats thereafter resumed their trespassing and provocation around the waters of Dokdo. In 1977, the designation of the twelve-nautical-mile limit on territorial waters further heightened the tension between South Korea and Japan, resulting in the violation of Dokdo's airspace several times by aircrafts of Japanese media. Japan's Defense White Paper started to mention Dokdo in 1978. Japan's claims over Dokdo's territorial sovereignty grew even more clamorous in the 1980s. At the regular ROK-Japan foreign ministers' meeting held in Tokyo in September of 1986, Japan went as far as to officially raise "the issue of Dokdo's territorial sovereignty." Since 1990, Japan's Diplomatic Bluebook has been publishing the claim that, "Dokdo is an inherent territory of Japan."

In 2005, the Shimane Prefecture in Japan designated February 22 as "Takeshima (Dokdo) Day" and has since continued to annually host an event to celebrate the occasion. The Japanese central government has been supportive of the event by sending high-ranking officials to attend it. In addition, far-right groups from all parts of Japan flock to the city of Matsue in Shimane Prefecture, driving vehicles equipped with speakers ranting slogans hostile enough for the city's citizens to feel threatened. 

In terms of textbooks, descriptions about Dokdo's territorial sovereignty first appeared in the revised instruction manual for Japanese middle school teachers in July of 2008. In December of the following year, a description in the same context was included in the instruction manual for Japanese high school teachers for the alleged purpose of reinforcing instruction about the territory. Those manuals were revised again in January of 2014 to include the more explicit phrase, "Dokdo is an inherent territory of Japan." In 2017, Dokdo was described as Japan's 'inherent' territory in Japanese social studies textbooks. 

Japan's territorial claim over Dokdo appears in its Defense White Paper and Diplomatic Bluebook^[각주:3] every year. More recently, attempts to provoke the Dokdo issue have been systematically arranged by the Japanese government. An example of this was the installment of the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination on Territory and Sovereignty in the Japanese cabinet in February of 2013.

In response to such provocation by the Japanese government, the Korean government has been actively reminding the world about Japan's past imperialistic aggressions^[각주:4] that led to the stealing of Dokdo, refuting the fallacy of Japanese arguments, uncovering historical sources that prove Dokdo has been an inherent territory of Korea, and building grounds to support its argument under international law. 

3. Strategic Implications of Japan's Territorial Claims against Neighboring Countries

Japan is said to have three so-called major territorial disputes involving Dokdo, the Senkaku/Diaoyudao Islands, and the Kuril Islands (Northern Territories). However, the nature of these "three disputes" elaborated by Japan varies. In the case of the Senkaku/Diaoyudao Islands, Japan argues that it does not admit any territorial dispute with China. However, China has openly raised territorial issues as of late, and after strongly objecting to the Japanese government's nationalization of the Senkaku/Diaoyudao Islands in 2012, the islands have surfaced as the greatest potential source of conflict between the two countries. The Kuril Islands were occupied by the Soviet Union after the Second World War, whereas Japan argues that they were a part of Japan's "inherent" territory. The nature of the dispute over the Kuril islands is completely different from that involving the Senkaku/Diaoyudao Islands. In denying that territorial issues exist concerning the Senkaku/Diaoyudao Islands, where it exercises effective control, Japan is acting in an oppositional way towards the Kuril Islands by emphasizing that they have historically belonged to Japan and that they are merely attempting to recover territorial sovereignty over the islands through diplomatic negotiations. 

Dokdo, in contrast, has clearly been a part of Korean territory throughout history. It was insidiously taken by Japan before it colonized the Korean peninsula, but once Korea's sovereignty was restored, the island was recovered, and Korean police forces have been stationed there ever since to manage it as a Korean territory. Considered from any perspective, whether it be historical, legal, or geographical, there is no foundation for territorial issues over Dokdo to arise between Korea and Japan. 

What, then, could be Japan's underlying motives? Since modern times, Japanese political elites have tended to deliberately stir up tensions with neighboring countries to strengthen and consolidate their domestic political power, privileges and vested interests, diverting domestic sentiments of dissatisfaction. In terms of domestic politics, maintaining a proper level of tensions with neighboring countries over territorial issues can be seen as a classic technique of governance to induce national unity by creating external scapegoats. 

From a geopolitical point of view, Japan's actions may also include a strategy to boost its strategic value by creating some level of political and military tensions in East Asia. Because Japan does not have the capacity to challenge China or Russia on its own, a firm security alliance with the United States is more necessary than ever, which is why Japan uses territorial issues to regularly create tension in the region and thereby raise its strategic value.

The problem is that if Japan pushes territorial issues too far, they can actually cause serious political and military conflicts in East Asia. In her famous book, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Ruth F. Benefict made the following prediction about the direction of Japan's foreign policies after the Second World War: "Japan's motivations are situational. She will seek her place within a world at peace if circumstances permit. If not, within a world organized as an armed camp." Once again, we are alarmed that her somber but sobering prediction made 75 years ago seems to already be in play in Japan's current domestic politics and foreign policies. Japan's all-over territorial claims can actually trigger serious political tensions in the region. What this implies is that protecting Korea's territorial sovereignty over Dokdo is not just about defending Korean territory; it is also about maintaining peace in East Asia.

1. be documented in 다음에 by 가 후에 추가적으로 따라 붙을 수 있음을 확인. ;; 추가적인 정보를 전달하는 전치사의 나열 가능 [본문으로]
2. consider sth/sb to be ; ~을 ~하다고 생각하다, 여기다 [본문으로]
3. Bluebook ; 1. an official book listing government officials ;; a report that is published by the government [본문으로]
4. aggression ;Noun[U] 1. 공격성 2. 공격, 침략 ;; 사전에는 불가산으로 나와 있지만 가산으로 활용한 것을 확인 [본문으로]