The American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee has corrected the description on its Web site of the 19th-century Korean atlas "Yeojido" (輿地圖). The library had labeled the atlas' map of Gangwon Province as showing "Kangwon Do, Ullung Do, & Dok Do," but now it simply labels it "Kangwon Do, Ullung Do."
The Gangwon Province map in the "Yeojido" atlas shows Ulleungdo with a neighboring island labeled "Usando" (于山島). I had suggested in a post HERE that the library correct their description of the map since Japanese and Korean historians differ on the location of Usando on old Korean maps. Korean historians claim Usando was the old Korean name for Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo) while Japanese historians claim it was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo.
By removing "Dok Do" from the description, the library appears to be taking a neutral stance on the territorial dispute, which I think is fair for both Korea and Japan, especially since the name "Dok Do" did not appear on the map.
I thank the American Geographic Society Library at the University of Wisincon - Milwaukee for taking quick action on the issue.
It was good. It is important that the study in the university is fair.
ReplyDelete2009.11.24
Good job, Gerry.
ReplyDeleteI kind of hoped she's going to change it to Usando, but at least what she did was very fair, objective and academic. Next time, she should stay away from Prof. Chon Woo-soep of faculty of Information or something,UWM, who seems to be the one who find the maps according to Korea's 中央日報, and ask for neutral/academic opinion.