Koreans on Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo

In 1412, the governor of Korea's Gangwon province reported HERE that twelve people from Yusanguk-do (流山國島) sailed into and anchored at Eorajin (於羅津) in Goseong (高城). The governor said they said the following:

"We grew up on Muleungdo, where 11 families lived with a total of more than sixty men and women. Now we have moved to the main island and are living there. The island's distances from east to west and north to south are each two shik (60 ri), and its circumference is eight shik (240 ri). There are no cows or horses or rice paddies on the island, but if we plant just one mal of beans, we harvest twenty to thirty seok. If we plant one seok of barley, we harvest more than fifty seok. The bamboo are as big as rafters, and there are all kinds of sea products and fruit trees."

命議政府議處流山國島人。 江原道觀察使報云: “流山國島人白加勿等十二名, 求泊高城於羅津, 言曰: ‘予等生長武陵, 其島內人戶十一, 男女共六十餘, 今移居本島。 是島自東至西自南至北, 皆二息, 周回八息。 無牛馬水田, 唯種豆一斗出二十石或三十石, 麥一石出五十餘石; 竹如大椽; 海錯果木皆在焉。’ 竊慮此人等逃還, 姑分置于通州、高城、杆城。” 

 

Notice that the people said they were from "Yusan-Guk Island," which was obviously an alternate spelling of "Usanguk Island." They said that more than sixty of them had grown up on Muleungdo (武陵島), but later moved to the "main island" (Usanguk Island). This was the first piece of evidence that Koreans lived on Ulleungdo's neighboring island.

Before the An Yong-bok incident in the 1690s, Korea's early maps of Ulleungdo generally showed Usando to be to the west of Ulleungdo, but after the An Yong-bok incident, Korean maps started mapping Usando as Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo. (See HERE.) These early maps tell us that for a certain period in the past Ulleungdo was called "Usando" and its neighboring island was called "Muleungdo" (Ulleungdo). The names later switched, however.

In a  September 2, 1416 record HERE, Korean official Bak Seup (朴習) said the following:

"When I was governor of Kangwon Province, I heard that Mu-leungdo had a circumference of seven sik and had a small island next to it. It had fifty kyeol of farmland and a narrow entryway that only allowed people to travel single file; they could not walk two abreast. A long time ago a man named Bak Ji-yong lead fifteen families to the island and lived there. I also heard that they would sometimes conspire with Japanese pirates and steal. There is a man in Samcheok who knows that island. Please ask him to go there and check."

庚寅/以金麟雨爲武陵等處安撫使。 戶曹參判朴習啓: “臣嘗爲江原道都觀察使, 聞武陵島周回七息, 傍有小島, 其田可五十餘結。 所入之路, 纔通一人, 不可竝行。 昔有方之用者率十五家入居, 時或假倭爲寇。 知其島者, 在三陟, 請使之往見。” 上可之, 乃召三陟人前萬戶金麟雨, 問武陵島事, 麟雨言: “三陟人李萬嘗往武陵而還, 詳知其島之事。” 卽召李萬。 麟雨又啓: “武陵島遙在海中, 人不相通, 故避軍役者, 或逃入焉。 若此島多接人, 則倭終必入寇, 因此而侵於江原道矣。” 上然之, 以麟雨爲武陵等處安撫使, 以萬爲伴人, 給兵船二隻、抄工二名、引海二名、火㷁火藥及糧, 往其島, 諭其頭目人以來。 賜麟雨及萬衣笠靴

Notice that the Korean official say that Muleungdo had a small neighboring island next to it that had fifty kyeol of farmland. He also said that the island had only a narrow entrance that only allowed people to travel in single file. This was obviously talking about Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo since there was only one path leading up onto the island. See the picture HERE. He also said that fifteen families used to live on the island, although it is unclear if he was referring to Ulleungdo or its neighboring island, but it did say that the neighboring island had a path leading up onto it, which suggests that people, at least, visited there and probably used it for farming.

An August 6, 1417 record HERE said, "Japanese pirates looted Usan and Muleung islands." (倭寇于山、武陵), which tells us that both islands had to have people living on them if they were looted.

In an August 30, 1479 record HERE, Korean official Kim Seung-gyeong (金升卿) told King Seongjong the following:

"Next to Sambongdo (三峯島 = Ulleungdo) there is a small island where two families, including that of Jeon Gun-ja (全君子), fled to and are living. If it looks like the people on the main island will refuse to assemble, we can take the two families on the small island before the people on Sambongdo realize it. Then we can appraise the situation before sending people to subjugate them. What do you think?",,,,

命召曾經政丞及府院君等, 御宣政殿, 引見, 又召永安道敬差官辛仲琚以入。 上曰: 三峯島人, 有拒敵官軍之勢, 欲與卿等議處置。” 左承旨金升卿啓曰: “三峯島旁有小島, 全君子等二戶, 逃居其中。 若募本道之人, 出其不意而往, 則可及三峯島人未覺之時, 取小島兩家矣。 然後審其形勢, 遣人討之何如? 鄭昌孫曰: “三峯島人, 無乃覺而來襲乎?” 上曰: “若然則官軍恐受辱矣。” 都承旨洪貴達啓曰: “五鎭人性, 本貪功, 賊若犯境, 欲使他境不知, 而自專其功, 若募以重賞, 必有取之者。” 辛仲琚言: “三峯水路, 五月九月風便海淸, 獨於此時可往。 若然則永安道, 道路遙隔, 今年九月, 似未及往也。” 昌孫曰: “若必入討, 則不可緩也。 若使彼人, 知我將討, 而有備, 則大不可也。” 上曰: “當大擧速討, 用戰卒一千五百若何?” 右副承旨蔡壽啓曰: “不須此數。 雖三四百可矣。 然北人皆用麻尙船, 蒼茫大海, 安可以麻尙船濟師哉? 且不識彼島地勢險夷, 居人多寡, 輕擧大軍, 以冒不測之險, 似未便。” 辛仲琚啓曰: “聞魚命山逃入時, 竊人哨麻船騎去矣。” 上曰: “水路幾日程, 其島泊船處有幾?” 仲琚對曰: “人言可二日程, 泊船處, 亦多有之。” 右承旨李瓊仝啓曰: “彼亦我國人, 安有拒敵官兵之理乎? 遣人招撫何如?” 上曰: “其人不事官役, 安業而居, 其肯來乎?” 洪貴達曰: “若招撫, 則非一端, 必開陳利害, 多方以誘之矣。 但今九月已迫, 戰艦諸事, 必不及辦, 待明年二三月遣之何如?” 上曰: “都承旨所言當矣。 此事終不可密, 今諭監司及節度使, 使備戰艦, 聲言大擧, 則彼或有歸服之理。” 僉曰: “上敎允當。”

In the above record, the Korean king and his officials were discussing ways to remove illegal settlers from "Sambongdo" (Ulleungdo), who they feared would not come peacefully. One official said there was a small, neighboring island with two families living on it. The small island was almost certainly Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo. The official suggested they take the small island first because it would give them a base near Ulleungdo where they would have time to appraise the situation.

A 1692 Japanese document HERE said that at about 5 o'clock in the morning of February 26, Japanese fishermen landed on a neighboring island of Ulleungdo called "Ika-shima" (イガ島). This 1724 Japanese map shows that "Ika-shima" (イガ島) was almost certainly Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo. On the island the Japanese found evidence that someone had been fishing for abalone there. On the morning of the next day (the 27th), the Japanese sailed on to the main island of Ulleungdo, where they met a Korean who told them the Koreans were at Ulleungdo fishing for abalone. This is evidence that both Koreans and Japanese were visiting and using Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo in 1692.

Today, Kim Gil-cheul (59) and his son live on the Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo. Mr. Kim has lived there for more than thirty years, in spite of there being no drinking water on the island. They have survived by collecting rain water. Mr. Kim said he moved to the island because he was hungry, and there were fields on the island where he could raise corn or potatoes. (See HERE ).

When Mr. Kim arrived on Jukdo, there were already three families living there. He said the other families on the island eventually left because the environment was so harsh, including the fact that they had to collect rain for their drinking water. According to a Japanese report HERE, a farmer was living on Jukdo even in 1930, and used a ladder to scale part of the path up onto the island. Also, according to this September 14, 2006 article from the Korean newspaper Silla Ilbo, at one time, four families with a total of thirty people lived on Jukdo. Here is the relevant portion of the Korean newspaper article:

죽도는 총면적 약6만 3000평으로 남북한 730m,동서쪽 400m로 울릉도 부속섬 106개중 가장 크며 도동 선착장에서 7km, 저동항에서 4km 북동쪽에 위치하고 있다. 죽도거주민은 한때 4가구 30명이 살았지만 지금은 김기철(67),유곤 한 부자가 거주하고 있으며 관광객 및 주민이 연간 2만명 정도가 다녀가는 울릉도 대표적인 관광의 섬이다.

Also, according to a March 9, 2001 article HERE, during Korea's colonial period, more than twenty families were said to have lived on Jukdo. Here is the relevant portion of the article:

저동항에서 동북쪽으로 십 리쯤 떨어진 바다에 떠 있는 207,869㎡(62,880평)의 작은 섬 죽도,일제시대에는 20여 호가 거주하였다고 하나 지금은 단 한 가구만이 거주할 뿐인 유인도.
About ten ri northeast of Jeodong Harbor, there is a small island on the sea called Jukdo [207, 869 sq. meters (62,880 pyeong). During Japanese rule, it is said that more than twenty families lived on the island, but now there is only one family.

In regard to the cliffs on Jukdo, , Kyoto Imperial University lecturer and geologist (京都帝大講師) Harumoto Atuo (春本篤夫氏は) went to Ulleungdo's Jukdo in 1930 (昭和五年) while he was conducting an on-site survey of Ulleungdo (欝陵島の実地調査を行った際). Here is what he said:

「竹島は周回二キロ、最高一〇五メートルの小島で周囲は完全に一〇〇メートルに近い直立の岸壁で囲まれ、一箇所絶壁に木梯を架し、壁間の空洞を利用してはんじ登ることができる。上は平坦で畑があり、農夫の一家族が住んでいる。人戯れに呼んで竹島の島司という」
"Chukdo is an islet with a circumference of two kilometers and a height of 105 meters at the highest point. It is completely surrounded by 100-meter vertical cliffs, but there is one spot where it is possible to set up a ladder and use the crevices in the cliff to climb up. The top is flat, and there is a field. A farmer lives there with his family. People half-jokingly call him the magistrate of the land. "

When people tell you that no one lived on or could not have lived on Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo because the cliffs were too steep or because there was no drinking water, you now know that they are either ignorant of the facts or are trying to deceive you with lies.

By the way, the 1794 Korean document to which Non-anonymous (Toadface) keeps referring said the following about three islands called Bangbaedo (防牌島), Jukdo (竹島), and Ongdo (瓮島):

前有三島, 在北曰防牌島, 在中曰竹島, 在東曰瓮島。 三島相距, 不過百餘步, 島之周回, 各爲數十把, 險巖嵂屼, 難以登覽,

또 그 앞에 세 개의 섬이 있는데, 북쪽의 것은 방패도(防牌島), 가운데의 것은 죽도(竹島), 동쪽의 것은 옹도(瓮島)이며, 세 섬 사이의 거리는 1백여 보(步)에 불과하고 섬의 둘레는 각각 수십 파(把)씩 되는데, 험한 바위들이 하도 쭈뼛쭈뼛하여 올라가 보기가 어려웠습니다.

Also, there were three islands in front. Bangpaedo (防牌島) was the northern island, Jukdo (竹島) the middle, and Ongdo (翁島) was to the east. The distance between the three islands was only about 100 paces, and the circumference of each was tens of pa (把). The rocks were so steep and towering that climbing to the top and looking was (would be) difficult.

First, notice that the passage did not say the rocks "couldn't be climbed," as Non-Anonymous (Toadface) said HERE. Second, we do not know which rocks were being talked about since there were three islands involved. Third, it said that there was a hundred paces separating each of the three islands, which we know would not be true in the case of Jukdo since Jukdo is about two kilometers from the nearest island.

I warn people to take what Non-Anonymous (Toadface) says with a big grain of salt because, as I have shown above, he is either lying or is ignorant of the facts when he says or suggests that no one did or could live on Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo.

Usando was not Liancourt Rocks. It was the old name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo, and Koreans used to live there and still do.