- Dokdo in the East Sea
- Controversies surrounding Dokdo
- Ten Truths about Dokdo Not Known in Japan
Dokdo in the East Sea
Table of Contents Open Contents
- Ten Truths about Dokdo Not Known in Japan
- 1. Japan claims it has long recognized the existence of Dokdo.
- 2. Japan claims there is no evidence that Korea recognized the existence of Dokdo in the past
- 3. Japan claims that it established its sovereignty over Dokdo in the mid-seventeenth century.
- 4. Japan claims that it banned passage to Ulleungdo in the late seventeenth century, but did not ban passage to Dokdo
- 5. Japan claims that Ahn Yong-bok’s statement is not reliable
- 6. Japan claims Japan reaffirmed its intention to claim sovereignty over Dokdo by incorporating the island into Shimane Prefecture in 1905
- 7. Japan claims that while drafting the San Francisco Peace Treaty the United States suggested that Dokdo is under the jurisdiction of Japan
- 8. Japan claims the designation of Dokdo as a bombing range for military practice for the United States Forces in Japan shows that Dokdo was treated as part of Japan’s territory
- 9. Japan claims that the Republic of Korea is illegally occupying Dokdo
- 10. Japan claims although Japan proposed to the Republic of Korea to refer this dispute over Dokdo to the International Court of Justice, the Republic of Korea rejects doing so.
Japan claims that while drafting the San Francisco Peace Treaty the United States suggested that Dokdo is under the jurisdiction of Japan
While drafting the San Francisco Peace Treaty, the United States rejected the Republic of Korea’s request to include Dokdo as one of the areas Japan must renounce by sending a diplomatic letter called the “Rusk Note.” Consequently, Dokdo was not included as an area Japan should relinquish under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which was signed in September, 1951.
Japan’s claims is not true because...
the San Francisco Peace Treaty succeeded the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration.
The General Headquarters of the Allied Powers had treated Dokdo as separate from Japan until the San Francisco Peace Treaty took into effect after World War II. The General Headquarters applied SCAPIN - 677 (January 29, 1946), which provides that Dokdo, along with Ulleungdo, belongs to the area that is excluded from Japan’s governmental or administrative authority. (See Material 12.)
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※ SCAPIN - 677: Governmental and Administrative Separation of Certain Outlying Areas from Japan
“3. For the purpose of this directive, Japan is defined to include the four main islands of Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku) and the approximately 1,000 smaller adjacent islands, … excluding (a) Utsuryo (Ulleung) Island, Liancourt Rocks [that is, Dokdo] ….”
These measures taken by the Allied Powers were succeeded in the San Francisco Peace Treaty signed in September of 1951. Even though Dokdo was not explicitly mentioned in the treaty, it is only natural to see Dokdo as having been included in the Korean territory that Japan should relinquish. Even islands larger than Dokdo were not all referred to in the treaty, because it was impossible to mention all the islands of the Republic of Korea. Also the “Rusk Note,” upon which Japan bases its claim for sovereignty over Dokdo, has no legal effect in determining the holder of sovereignty over the island, as this note only reflected the opinion of the United States, not the opinion of the Allied Powers as a whole.
Dokdo was reclaimed as an island annexed to the Korean Peninsula as the Allied Powers won the war in August, 1945 and the Government of the Republic of Korea was established on August 15, 1948, in accordance with a United Nations resolution. The San Francisco Peace Treaty merely confirmed these facts.
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- MATERIAL 12. SCAPIN - 677 (January 29, 1946) and Related Maps
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Dokdo shown on a map relating to the SCAPIN - 677 document
