Was Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo 독도 / Takeshima 竹島 죽도) historically Japanese territory?

 ANSWER: YES!

Liancourt Rocks, which Koreans call Dokdo and the Japanese call Takeshima, was historically Japanese territory until armed Koreans occupied it in 1952. The Japanese have old documents and maps showing that Japanese were travelling to Liancourt Rocks as early as the 1600s on their way to Ulleungdo (울릉도), a Korean island that the Japanese at the time believed was unclaimed because it was unoccupied since Joseon Korea had an "Empty Island" policy that prevented Koreans from living on its outlying islands.

Japan has many old maps and documents supporting her historical claim to Liancourt Rocks, but Korea has none. That means Korea has no old maps showing Liancourt Rocks or any documents showing that Koreans ever traveled to the Rocks before the Japanese started taking them there as deckhands on Japanese fishing boats around the beginning of the 20th century.

Koreans claim that a neighboring island of Ulleungdo on its old maps named “Usan (于山 우산)” was Liancourt Rocks, but Usan was just an old name for Ulleungdo’s neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 죽도), which is only about 2 kilometers off the northeast shore of Ulleungdo. But Liancourt Rocks is about 90 kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo.

Some Koreans may be confused by the fact that Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (죽도 竹島) uses the same Chinese characters for its name as the Japanese use for Liancourt Rocks, which the Japanese call Takeshima (竹島), but they are two separate islands with the same Chinese-character name (竹島).

There are two Korean documents that do mention a distant island being visible to the east of Ulleungdo, but one document proves that Koreans had never been to the island and the other says that the island was Japanese territory.

In 1694, a Korean inspector went to Ulleungdo to see if there were any Japanese on the island and to try to confirm if Ulleungdo was the island that Japan was claiming to be Japanese territory. The Japanese had claimed Ulleungdo to be Japanese territory because they had believed the island to be unclaimed since it was unoccupied. Here is part of what the Korean inspector wrote:

霽雨靄捲之日入山登中峯則南北兩峯岌崇相面此所謂三峯也西望大關嶺逶迤之狀東望海中有一島杳在辰方而其大未滿蔚島三分之一不過三百餘里.

On a day when the rain stopped and the fog lifted (霽雨靄捲之日), [we] entered the mountain (入山) and climbed (登) the middle peak (中峯) Then (則), a high peak was facing us from the south and another from the north (南北兩峯岌崇相面), [indicating that] this (此) [was] the so-called “Three-Peak” [Mountain] (三峯也). Visible in the distance to the West (西望) was the form of (Korea’s) Dae-Gwal-Ryeong mountain range (大關嶺逶迤之狀). Visible in the ocean to the east (東望海中)), there was an island (有一島), vague and remote (杳), to the east-southeast (在辰方). Its size (其大) was less than one third the size of Ulleungdo (未滿蔚島三分之一) and it was only about 300 ri away (不過三百餘里).

The area of Ulleungdo is more than 17,900 acres while the area of Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo/Takeshima) in only about 46 acres, which means that Ulleungdo is about 389 times larger than Liancourt Rocks (17,900 / 46 = 389.1), not 3 times larger, as the Korean inspector guessed. That means that the Korean inspector did not travel to Liancourt Rocks nor did he know anything about the “vague and remote” island he saw east southeast of Ulleungdo. If Liancourt Rocks had really been Korean territory, wouldn’t the Korean inspector have known that it was just a couple of big rocks? His guess on the distance to the Rocks was also wrong. He guessed 300 ri, which would have been 120 kilometers away from Ulleungo, but Liancourt Rocks is only about 90 kilometers away. His misjudging the distance to the island was probably one of the reasons he thought it was bigger than it really was. In other words, if you think an island is 120 kilometers away when it is only 90 kilometers away, then the island will seem bigger than it really is.

The Korean inspector probably thought that a Japanese island being that close to Ulleungdo was a danger to Korea, thinking that it might be a possible route for Japanese pirates or even invading Japanese troops.

By the way, the reference in the above document to the "Three Peaks" is important because another name for Ulleungdo in the past was "Sambongdo" (三峯島 삼봉도), "The Island of Three Peaks," yet there are some Koreans who ridiculously claim that "Sambongdo" was another name for "Dokdo."

By the way, again, after Korea showed Japan old maps and documents at the time proving her historical claim to Ulleungdo, Japan gave up her claim to the island and warned Japanese not to visit the island. But giving up its claim to Ulleungdo did not mean that Japan gave up its claim to Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo/Takeshima), as is evidenced by the following 1714 report, presented to the Korean court by a Korean inspector of Korea's East Coast defences.

鬱陵之東 島嶼相望 接于倭境

To the east of Ulleungdo (鬱陵之東), an island (島嶼) is visible in the distance (相望) [and it] is connected (接) to (于) Japanese (倭) territory (境).

The Korean inspector had just returned from Korea's east coast where he as inspecting the country's defences. He made the statement to try to convince the Korean government to strengthen its east coast defences because of the nearness of Japanese territory to Ulleungdo.

Many Koreans also claim that the 1952 Peace Treaty with Japan gave Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo) to Korea, but here is what Dean Rusk, the U.S. Secretary of State at the time, wrote to the South Korean ambassador in an August 10, 1951 letter in response to the South Korean ambassador's request to include “Dokdo” among the islands to which Japan was to renounce claim:

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.

Some Koreans try to claim that the above statement does not mean the 1952 treaty did not give Dokdo to Korea because they say the wording of the treaty was too vague, but in his 1955 report to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower about his recent Mission to the Far East as Eisenhower’s Special Ambassador, retired 4-star General James Alward Van Fleet makes it clear that the 1952 Peace Treaty did not give "Dokdo" to Korea.

4. Ownership of Dokto Island

The Island of Dokto (otherwise called Liancourt and Take Shima) is in the Sea of Japan approximately midway between Korea and Honshu (131.80E, 36.20N). This Island is, in fact, only a group of barren, uninhabited rocks. When the Treaty of Peace with Japan was being drafted, the Republic of Korea asserted its claims to Dokto but the United States concluded that they remained under Japanese sovereignty and the Island was not included among the Islands that Japan released from its ownership under the Peace Treaty. The Republic of Korea has been confidentially informed of the United States position regarding the islands but our position has not been made public. Though the United States considers that the islands are Japanese territory, we have declined to interfere in the dispute. Our position has been that the dispute might properly be referred to the International Court of Justice and this suggestion has been informally conveyed to the Republic of Korea.”

After the U.S. rejected South Korea’s request to give Dokdo to Korea, South Korean President Syngman Rhee decided to occupy Dokdo before the treaty went into effect, and South Koreans have occupied the Rocks ever since. If Rhee had really thought the treaty was giving "Dokdo" to Korea, why wouldn't he just wait for the treaty to go into effect? Because he knew that the treaty was not giving "Dokdo" to Korea.

President Rhee apparently felt that Korea deserved some kind of compensation from Japan for Korea’s being under Japanese rule for 35 years. Rhee even tried to claim that the Japanese island of Tsushima, in the Korean Strait between Korea and Japan, was Korean territory even though it was obvious to almost anyone who knew anything about the history and geography of Japan that Tsushima was Japanese territory. The Korean claim was so absurd that Rhee eventually withdrew it, choosing instead to try to claim "Dokdo."

Maybe Korea did deserve some kind of compensation for being a colony of Japan but lying about the history of “Dokdo” and making a false claim for it was the wrong way to go about getting it.

In 1965, Japan did pay compensation to South Korea for having colonized Korea, but Koreans still refused to return Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo/Takehima) to Japan.

The United States wanted South Korea and Japan to take the issue to the International Court of Justice, but Korea has refused to do so. Why? Because Korea knows that it has no old maps or documents to support her historical claim to the Rocks.