Korean Finally "Discovers" 1905 Japanese Newspaper Article

Korea's Maeil Economics newspaper reports in a February 9, 2010 article that a Korean professor has discovered a 1905 Japanese newspaper article reporting Japan's incorporation of Takeshima (Dokdo). The Korean article, entitled "Japanese Empire, Dokdo's Seizure Announced Domestically through Newspaper," quotes Professor Kim Mun-gil (金文吉) of Busan Foreign Language University (see photo) as saying the following:

"Recently, I have discovered evident in Japan's Shimane Prefecture Library that the Japanese government tried to inform its people, by way of newspaper, of its incorporation of Dokdo as Japanese territory."

"최근 일본 시마네현 도서관에서 일본정부가 독도를 일본영토로 한다는 사실을 신문을 통해 국민들에게 알리려고 했다는 증거를 발견했다."

The 1905 Japanese newspaper article that the Korean professor has only "recently discovered" is the same article that we wrote about on this blog in 2007. If he had only come HERE and read our post three years ago, the professor could have "discovered" the article much sooner.

Koreans have been claiming for years that the Japanese government in 1905 tried to keep the incorporation of Takeshima a secret, supposedly because Japan did not want the world to know that she was stealing Korean land. Now, in an article that is trying to make some kind of news out of the fact that the Japanese article referred to Takeshima as "Oki's new island," Koreans are inadvertently admitting that the incorporation of Takeshima was made public in 1905.

By the way, the 1905 Japanese article was entitled "Oki's New Island" (隠岐の新島), not "Japan's New Island." The title only meant to say that Takeshima was officially put under the jurisdiction of Oki County, not that it was a new Japanese island, which is what the Korean article seems to be trying to imply.

Land, especially a few barren rock islets, can be considered a part of a country's territory without being put under the administration of a local government. For example, the United States and other countries have what are now called "unincorporated, unorganized territories." Before its incorporation in 1905, Takeshima seems to have been considered such a territory by Japan, as this 1877 letter from an official of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests. Here is an excerpt from the 1877 letter:

Many records say that “Argonaut,” which is the Western name for Takeshima (Ulleungdo), does not exist, and that “Dagelet,” which refers to Matsushima, is actually Takeshima (Ulleungdo). So what we call "Matsushima” (Liancourt Rocks) is called “Hornet Rocks” by Westerners. Foreign maps show Hornet Rocks to be Japanese territory, but there is still no agreement among countries concerning the other two islands.

Japan has many old maps showing Takeshima as Japanese territory, but Korea has none showing it as Korean territory. Takeshima before 1905 appears to have been considered unincorporated Japanese territory, but in 1905, it was formally incorporated, as is evident by the 1905 Japanese article mentioned above.

Thanks, Kaneganese, for pointing out the Korean article.