1951 - Sep. 21 - Korean Government comprehended Takeshima/Dokdo was affirmed as a Japanese Territory in Peace Treaty

On Sep. 21st, 1951, South Korean Foreign Minister Pyun Yung-tai(卞栄泰) sent a letter to U.S. Ambassar Muccio. In his letter, he claimed that SCAPIN-677 is the cocnlusive factor to decide Takeshima/Dokdo is Korean territory. He also listed, as other factors, MacArthur line and U.S. apology to Korea for the victims of 1948 bombing incident.

Republic of Korea

Ministry of Foreign Affairs SEOUL

September 21, 1951

Dear Ambassador Muccio,

This note is to seek to draw your attention to the enclosed exerpt of Memorandum of SCAPIN-677, 29 January 1946, which should be regarded as a conslusive factor in deciding, in Korean favor, the controversy over the ownership of Dokdo, known as "Liancourt Rocks" and also as "Takeshima" in Japanese. The fact that the disputed isle has been put on the Korean side of the MacArthur Line is another manifestation of the SCAP memorandum under notice.

In 1948, if I do not remember wrongly, when air bombing practice caused casualities among the Korean fishermen in boats nestling near the isle SCAP apologized to this Goverment for the incident. Had SCAP regarded the isle as Japanese territory, the presence of the Koreans there would have been illegal and no apologies necessary. As evidenced by the Memorandum in question, SCAP has, at no time, doubted that the isle belongs or ought to belong, to Korea.

We have substantial documented evidence to prove that the isle has been in the Korean possession for many hundred years. The fact that Japan incorporated the isle into one of its nearby prefectures in 1905 (a deal sneaked on a prefectural level, not on a Governmental level, for the obvious convenience to back down more easily in case of a possible international trouble) cannot repudiate our rightful claims to the isle, supported not merely by Korean documents but by Japanese ones also.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Sincerely yours,

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Yung Tai PYUN

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Minister of Foreign Affairs

Enclosure: Memorandum of SCAPIN-677, 29 January 1946

His Excellency

Note that this was sent AFTER the Peace Treaty was signed (08/09/1951). In other word, it is apparent Korean government did understand that Peace Treaty concluded that Takeshima was left to Japan as its sovereign territory, or she wouldn't have sent such a letter to make U.S. pay attention to SCAPIN-677. In fact, Korean Ambassodor to U.S. was already told by Dean Rusk, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, that the Japanese claim to the Liancourt Rocks would not be renounced in the peace treaty on 10th Aug., 1951 and this official notification was reiterated to ROK government on 4th Dec., 1952.

Possible Methods of Resolving Liancourt Rocks Dispute between Japan and ROK　(July 22, 1953)

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With regard to the question of who has sovereignty over the Liancourt Rock (which are also known in Japanese as Takeshima, and in Korean as Dokdo), it may be of interest to recall that the United States position, contained in a note to the Republic of Korea's Ambassador date August 10, 1951 reads in part:

"....As regards the island of Dokdo, otherwise known as Takeshima or Liancourt Rocks, this normally uninhabited rock formation was according to our information never treated as part of Korea and, since about 1905, has been under the jurisdiction of the Oki Islands Branch Office of Shimane Prefecture of Japan. The island does not appear ever before to have been claimed by Korea......"

(This position has never been formally communicated to the Japanese Government but might well come to light were this dispute ever submitted to mediation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement.)

Since sending the August 10, 1951 note to the ROK Government, the United States Government has sent only one additional communication on the subject. This was done in response to the ROK protest of the alleged bombing of Dokdo Island by a United States military plane. The United States note of December 4, 1952 states:

"The Embassy has taken note of the statement contained in the Ministry's Note that　'Dokdo Island (Liancourt Rocks) .....is a part of the territory of the Republic of Korea.'　The United States Government's understanding of the territorial status of this island was stated in Assistant Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s note to the Korean Ambassador in Washington dated August 10,1951."

Pyun’s attempts urging U.S. to reconsider was laughed off, as it was documented in the following corresponding letter, which was accompanied by Pyun’s letter above, from Pusan to Washington. The Minister apparently failed to present alleged "substantial documented evidence to prove that the isle has been in the Korean possession for many hundred years”.

TRANSMITTAL OF LETTER FROM MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON KOREAN CLAIM TO DOKDO ISLAND (Oct. 3, 1951) (Records of the U.S Department of State relating to the Internal Affairs of Korea, 1950-54 Department of State Decimal File 795)

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

With regard to the " substantial documented evidence" referred to in the last paragraph of the letter, an officer of the Embassy was orally informed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs that such evidence appears throughout Korean and Japanese archives. The implication was that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not possess a compilation of such "evidence" at this time. Although it was pointed out to the Minister that the Embassy would welcome the submission of such "evidence" for transmittal to the Department, it appears doubutful that such information will be forthcoming.

Today, Korean government claim that Takeshima was decided to be Korean territory by U.S.’s dropping its name from the article.

Later, Dokdo’s exclusion from Japan’s territory was reaffirmed by the Treaty of Peace with Japan, better known as the San Francisco Treaty, of September 8, 1951.

(Dokdo_Korean territory Basic Position of the Government of the Republic of Korea on Dokdo, 2010)

However, as Pyun’s letter shows, Korean government was well aware that Takeshima was left to Japan in San Francisco Peace Treaty. It is a shame ROK never stops distorting the fact and brainwashing her innocent nationals every day.

Ulleung County Symbol Recognizes 'Three Peaks' of Ulleungdo

One of the old names for the Korean island of Ulleungdo in Korean historical documents was "Sambongdo" (三峰島 - 삼봉도), which means "Island of Three Peaks." Ulleungdo's three prominent peaks were mentioned numerous times in Korean historical texts. Though some nationalistic Korean historians claim that Sambongdo was referring to Liancourt Rocks (Takeshima - Dokdo), Korea's own historical texts, and, apparently, even the symbol for Korea's Ulleung County (울릉군) seem to contradict that claim.

Notice that the Ulleung County symbol to the left shows three peaks against against a background of red. The county's Web site, HERE, describes the symbol as follows:

The oval shape of the outer edge of the symbol represents the sun rising over the East Sea (Sea of Japan). With Ulleungdo's Seongin Peak in the center, the shape of the mountains is shown with a design of three triangular peaks that represent Ulleung's unyielding spirit.

가장 자리를 둘러싼 타원은 동해에 떠오르는 태양을 상징하며 산의 형상은 울릉도의 성인봉을 중심으로 울릉의 굳굳한 기상을 삼각형태의 대칭구조로 2분하여 도안 되었습니다.

The Korean seems a little awkward to me, so if someone has a different translation, please let me know. For example, I assumed 굳굳한 meant 꿋꿋한. Also, the expression 2분하여 seems awkward to me.

Again, the three peaks of Ulleungdo were mentioned numerous times in Korea's historical documents.

Thanks, Chaamiey, for pointing out the symbol.

Video Comparing Korean Map Drawings of "Usando" (于山島), by Yabutarou

2011 May 13 - "Dong-a Ilbo" Reports Discovery of a "Dae Dongyeojido" Map Showing "Dokdo"

In a May 13 article entitled, "First Domestic Discovery of a Hand-drawn Dae Dongyeojido Map Showing Dokdo," Korea's Dong-a Ilbo reports the following:

A Dae Dongyeojido (大東輿地圖 – 대동여지도) map showing Dokdo has been discovered  domestically for the first time.

On the 11th, the Academy of Korean Studies revealed, "In November of last year, while researching old documents as part of an effort to promote Korean Studies, a hand-drawn copy of a Dae Dongyeojido map showing Dokdo was found in Seoul's Seodaemun District Korean Research Center library.

On this handdrawn copy, an island labeled "Usan" (于山) was drawn to the right of Ulleungdo. Usan was the old name for Dokdo. The sea was drawn blue and the islands were drawn yellow.

Worldwide, there are a total of 25 block-print or hand-drawn copies of the Dae Dongyeojido. As for copies showing Dokdo, until now there was only a block-print copy in Japan's Diet Library, none had been found domestically. In the block prints, Kim Jong-ho, himself, craved the map on the blocks in 1861. The hand-drawn copies were made by placing paper over the original blocks and tracing them.

The Research Director of the Academy of Korean Studies, Ok Yeong-jeong, said, "A hand-drawn Dae Dongyeojido map showing Dokdo is important for understanding how Dokdo was seen by Koreans in the 19th century.  Lee Sang-tae, an endowed professor at the Graduate School of Korea International Culture University, explained, "Japan has claimed sovereignty of Dokdo by saying 'Dokdo has hardly appeared on a Dae Dongyeojido, which is Korea's representative map,' but the discovery of this map has confirmed that claim is groundless."

Above Ulleungdo on the map is written, "In the 11th year of Yeongjong, Gangwon Gamsa Jo Choi-su inspected Ulleungdo, and Usando is to the east of Ulleungdo." Concerning this, Professor Lee explained, "Until the Daehan Emprie was established in 1897, King Yeongjo was called 'Yeongjong,' so this hand-drawn map was drawn sometime between 1861, when the Dae Dongyeojido was first made, and 1897.

Thanks for the link to the article, Chaamiey.

The following is an image of the map from YTN News:



Of course, the island the article is claiming to be "Dokdo" is actually Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore, as shown in the Google satellite image below:

Besides the Dae Dongyeojido shown above, Kim Jong-ho also drew the following 1834 map of Ulleungdo and Usando, a map which has gridlines for distance along the edge. Each gridline represented ten ri, which was about four kilometers. The gridlines prove that the Usan (于山) on the map could not have possibly been Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo), which are are about 90 kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo and are essentially made up of two rock islets, not one.

Steve Barber is back in the Korean news.

A foreigner's journey of discovery and Dokdo

Excerpt:

After many online discussions about Dokdo with both Japanese and Koreans it became apparent that the two countries have different approaches and origins to their beliefs.

Japan's effort to reclaim Dokdo, which it refers to as Takeshima is fueled by a small but determined group of right wingers. Most of these Japanese are anonymous.

They obsessively lobby and spread propaganda related to other issues of contention between Japan and her neighbors.

Following Internet links that claim Dokdo as Japan's inherent territory will eventually lead you to the same Japanese netizens who deny the Nanjing massacre, comfort women and other wartime atrocities.

However, Korea's claim for Dokdo is supported by the vast majority of Koreans who believe with conviction the islets are theirs.

With this in mind, the Korean government is truly representative of how Koreans feel about Dokdo while Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to be appeasing right wing activists.

It takes a lot of gall for Steve Barber to say such stuff, considering that he used to anonymously post under a variety of IDs until he was caught doing it and his identity explosed.