Award Winning Works of 4th Int’l Essay Contest on Dokdo Prize

Ten truths about Dokdo not known in Japan

Prasanna Bolla Prasanna is an Indian citizen currently living in Ulsan, South Korea. She is a graduate in history. An avid traveler, she has visited most of the Korean peninsula and loves to learn more about what the place has to offer. The keenness in history goes back to the childhood days when youngsters happened to hear great historic stories from the grandparents. She would like to take up the same role when she becomes old, and for that she travels to many places to learn a lot about the history of what the various places have to offer.

Dokdo is a small group of islets in the East Sea, between Korea and Japan, to which both countries are laying claim. At stake are Dokdo’s rich fishing stocks, gas hydrates on the adjacent seabed, and an exclusive economic zone. The Dokdo region is populated by Korean fishing communities and host to athriving tourism industry.

Korea has had administrative control over Dokdo prior to 1905 and after 1945. Existing Japanese and Korean government documents clearly indicate early Korean sovereignty.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that the Korean occupation ofDokdo since World War II is in violation of international laws. It claims as evidence the omission of Dokdo from major peace treaties between Japan and the Allied Powers.

Dokdo is found in Korea’s written records as early as 512, during the Silla Dynasty. The islands show up in Japanese written records in 1693, and are eventually known in Japanese record books as Takeshima. Korea promptly sent an emissary to Japan to let them know back then that the islands were Korean territory, and Japan backed off. In 1849 a French whaling ship charted the island, and in typical European fashion, made up their own name for it – Liancourt Rocks. Japan came back again in 1876, and once more Korea protested. Japan apologized, again, and left it alone until the peninsula and all its territories fell under Japanese control during 35 years of occupation. The Japanese were stoked on the prime sea lion hunting location.

After liberation in 1945, Dokdo was Korean territory again. The U.S. used the islands as a bombing range in 1952 and stationed U.S. troops there for a short period of time. The islands have been more than just a pile of rocks for a very long time. They are home to good fishing grounds, untappedgas deposits, and did I mention the sea lions?

There are a number of important historical documents in both Korea and Japan which clearly state that Dokdo is Korea’s territory, including Sejong Silok Jiriji (“Geographical Appendix to the Veritable Records of King Sejong,” 1454), Mangi Yoram (“The Book of Ten Thousand Techniques of Governance,” 1808), the Korean Imperial Ordinance No. 41 (1900), a document by the Edo Shogunate prohibiting Japanese fishermen from the passage to Ulleungdo (1696), Chosen Koku Kosai-Shimatsu Naitansho (“Confidential Inquiry Into the Particulars of Korea’s Relations With Japan,” 1870) issued by the Meiji government, and the 1877 Dajokan Order.

Dokdo, as an appendix to Ulleungdo, did not require any separate prohibition for passage to it.

The shrine is dedicated to Japan’s war dead, including war criminals, and is viewed by many of the country’s neighbors as a reminder of Japan’s military past. Both South Korea and Japan say they have a historical claim to the islands, which are roughly equidistant from the two countries. They are small but lie in fishing grounds which could also contain large gas deposits.

South Korea has stationed a small coastguard detachment on the islands since 1954. Former President Lee Myung-bak was the first South Korean President to visit them on Aug. 10, 2012. South Korea has a small police garrison and a weather station on Dokdo. Its armed forces frequently conductmilitary drills on and near the islands.

September 1945: A map generated by the Supreme Commander for theAllied Powers (SCAP) in September 1945 shows the initial setup of the occupation boundaries of different U.S. military commands. Dokdo is shown within the U.S. Sixth Army’s occupation zone, and outside of the Korea-based U.S. XXIV Corps’ zone. The process by which SCAP determined these zones is unknown.

Sept. 27, 1945: In an early instruction to the government of Japan, SCAP states that the Japanese should not be allowed to approach within 12 miles of Dokdo.

Jan. 29, 1946: SCAPIN 677 is issued. This instruction defined the territorial boundaries of Japan, explicitly excluding Dokdo, cited as “Liancourt Rocks (Take Island).” The occupation boundaries were therefore replaced by a new boundary, the so-called “MacArthur Line,” which placed Dokdowithin the Korea-based XXIV Corps’s area of responsibility. This policy of excluding Dokdo from Japanese fishing areas and administrative control was sustained throughout the occupation of Japan. Again, why and by what process the General Headquarters of SCAP decided to exclude Japanese involvement with Dokdo throughout the occupation is not known for certain.

Dokdo is a symbol of the Republic of Korea’s sovereignty. There is noreason to bring this issue to the International Court of Justice.

Dokdo, as an appendix to Ulleungdo, did not require any separate prohibition for passage to it.