Asian Studies

A new era of political leadership has already dawned in the 21st century and as Japan and Korea both enter this era, they need to rise above the occasion and set aside their differences in order to survive the challenges brought about by the changes in the international system. Korea and Japan have established their reputation as two of the most powerful countries in Asia but as successful as they are, they still cannot agree on their territorial dispute about Dokdo Island because they both claim that they have a historical and geographical connection with these islands. As such, the legal status of the ownership of Dokdo Island is still one of the most debated issues which if remained unresolved would threaten the peace of the entire continent.

Description of Dokdo Island

Even though Korea and Japan claim legal title to Dokdo Island, it is now under the administration of the Republic of Korea. Both of their claims can be traced several centuries ago and they both presented historical and geographical arguments that support their claim (Historical Facts About Koreas Dokdo Island). Dokdo is not just one island but two little rocky islets surrounded by more than thirty smaller rocks. It is located approximately two hundred and fifteen kilometers off of the Korean eastern border and about ninety kilometers east of the South Korea. These islets are now under the administrative part of the Ulling Island which is located in the North Kyongsang province  under the supervision of the Department of Ocean and Fisheries. It is also located approximately one hundred and fifty seven kilometers northwest of the Oki Islands of Japan. The two islets composing Dokdo are the west islet named Suhdo and the east islet named Dongdo (The Territorial Dispute Over Dokdo).

What makes Dokdo Island valuable

The issue about Dokdo initiated a lot of academic studies not only in Korea and Japan but also from the entire international community but there are only a few countries who expanded their research beyond the ultimate question as to who the rightful ownership belongs to. Regardless of the legal merits of the competing countries, this issue is now considered of great importance because it has affected the political as well as the domestic affairs of both countries. The obvious reason why two countries fight over a piece of land is because of the value that it will contribute to their nations resources. Dokdo has infinite value as a fishery base of the Eastern sea. Aside from this fact, there is a layer of natural gas that surrounds these Islands. According to a chemistry professor who studied at the Russia Science of Inorganic Chemistry, the map of the entire Island marks a point somewhere in the East Sea that makes it a possible source of Gas Hydrate. Gas Hydrate the natural gas solid state whose major chemical substance is methane. It is a very critical and expensive source of energy that is ten times greater than the present source of natural gas. The primary reason why Japan claims that this is their territory is because of the extremely abundant maritime resources. Even though there remains a huge amount of Gas Hydrate left undiscovered, only Russia is harnessing it for commercial purposes because there are no advanced technologies yet for Korea to use. Japan has already gathered much information about this matter and they began their exploration in November 1999. Both countries also claim Dokdo for the protection of its economic values and it is greatly possible that the nearby waters of Dokdo have petroleum resources that have very high value.  These resources therefore makes Dokdo extremely valuable to the country who would possess and control its resources and as such, it is understandable for the Korean Government to take interest in the economic value of Dokdo and for Japan to be protective of it (Dokdo, 2001).

Conflict between Korea and Japan

Korea and Japans conflict over Dokdo start from January of 2004. Korean authority issued postage stamps with Dokdos image on January 16, 2004 which was their third time after they issued stamps on 1954 and 2002.  The Japanese authorities then made a strong protest to the issuance of these stamps and their Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi even said that Takeshima is Japans territory. However, during the same time of Koreas issuance of the stamps, sources also confirmed that Japan issued the same stamps with Dokdo in its background. They posted a total of 360 stamps with Dokdo three times since January 23 of the same year which was just one week after Korea issued their stamps. The conflict of these two countries over their issuance of stamps has affected even the international arena. Japan criticized the January 26 stamp issuance of Korea arguing that they violated the spirit of the Charter of Universal Postal Union (UPU) and draft recommendation of UPUs General Assembly. They claimed that Takeshima is a part of their territory which Korea illegally occupied. They also declared that Koreas issuance of Dokdo stamps gravely affected the relationship of the two countries. Japan contended that the image of Dokdo goes against the preamble of the charter but in response, Korea said that Dokdo was clearly their territory based on historical and geographical evidence. Therefore, they said that Japans claim over it was a clear infringement of their sovereign right (Kyung-seo Park, 126-129).

The conflict between these two countries is becoming wider to the point when it attracted civilian involvement. There were four activists from a Japanese organization who attempted to land on Dokdo and in response, the Korean government warned them that they would take the necessary measures to preserve the island even if it includes physical measures. Fortunately, a greater conflict was avoided because the activists did not continue to enter into the Korean boarder the next day. The claims of Japan and Korea over Dokdo are parallel with each other. According to Korea, they have the power to it because the international principles and history dictates so. On the contrary, Japan argued that holds possession of the management of Dokdo since the 17th century. Korea wanted to maintain the exercise of their sovereign rights over the Island but Japan want to obtain territorial right by taking the issue to the International Court of Justice (Kyung-seo Park, 126-129).

Koreas  historic and geographical claim over Dokdo Island

Korea uses the name Dokdo while Japan uses Takeshima to refer to the disputed island but prior to the adoption of these names, there are several names used as a reference to Dokdo both in Korea and in Japan, it was likewise called Liancourt Rocks by other nations. Since the Three Kingdom Period, Korea has long since recognized Dokdo island as part of their territory. Even though it was referred to in the ancient times using names such as Gajido, Seokdo and others, the description of the island as well as the waters surrounding it remains the same from the records of the Three Kingdoms in the 512 A.D to the Joseon Kingdom from 1392-1910. Before the colonization of Korea in the year 1905, Japan insisted on claiming their rights these island and at that time, Korea was in no position to express resistance. According to the Koreans, Japan took advantage of their weakness to claim Dokdo island as their own and the whole country as well after five years. After thirty five years of hardship, Korea was liberated from Japan during the end of World War II and according to the Cairo Declaration, all the territories that Japan stole from Korea must be returned to them, therefore Japan must give back Dokdo to Korea (Pil-kyu).
 
Koreans claim that they have the geographical evidence that proves that they are the rightful owner of Dokdo. The cliffs of the eastern islet are approximately 10 to 20 meters high and there are two caves that gives access to the crater and the sea. The nearest land mass from Dokdo is the Ulleung Island of Korea which is about 87 kilometers from Koreas mainland  while the nearest Japanese soil is the Oki Islands which is  about 157 kilometers away from Dokdo (Historical Facts About Koreas Dokdo Island).

Japans historical and geographical claim over Dokdo Island

The matter of territorial dispute between Japan and Korea has been around for many years. Even though Japan asserts that the island  which they considered to be terra nullius was incorporated to them through the control of the Shiname Prefecture government  on February 22,1905, Korea contends that Shilla Dynasty was the first one who took control over it and that they could not protest during that time because of the Protectorate Treaty of 1905 (De Rouen, 385-386). Governor Shimane proclaimed that these islets are under the administration of the Oki Island under the name Takeshima under proclamation 40 of year 1905. Prior to this claim, the action of the government of Japan commenced when in September 1904, Yozaburo Nakai, a Japanese fisherman from Oki Island asked permission to be given exclusive rights to fish in the are of Dokdo. He likewise asked a ten-year lease and asked the government for a more formal incorporation of the said islands. After declaring Dokdo as a part of Japan in February of 1905, the Japanese authorities registered the Islands name as Takeshima in the State Land Register in May 17, 1905 (The Territorial Dispute over Dokdo).

After the start of a steady military aggression towards Korea in the late 1800s, the Japanese killed Queen Min of Korea thereby forcing the country under military control. They likewise put the Dokdo Islands under their territory during this time (Pil-kyu). The San Francisco Peace Treaty  was not enough to end the dispute between these two and this is the reason why diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea did not resume to normal (De Rouen, 385-386). While Korea claims that Dokdo was their territory from the very beginning, Japan claims that the old Korean maps refute their claim. Prior to the year that Japan incorporated Takeshima into their territory in 1905, the name Dokdo was nowhere to be found in any Korean maps or documents but South Korea contends that this is because the old maps used the name Usando and not Dokdo but an American researcher submitted copies of three ancient maps in storage in Seoul National University that refute Koreas claim. These are but the maps of Ullengdo island and one of the maps show the so-called Usando in Haejangjuk which cannot mean to be Dokdo because it is a kind of bamboo that does not grow in the island of Takeshima. The third map dated 1834 shows a small island named Usan which could mean Usando but it is located approximately 4 kilometers east of Ullengdo which clearly means that it cannot be the Takeshima Island (Bevers).

Koreas way of  preserving the ownership of the island

The Korean government is doing its best just to preserve the ownership of Korea to Dokdo Island not only technically and legally but also by putting this fact to the minds of its people and to the other countries. It is indeed important that the people of the country as well as the whole world would know that Korea has the full control over Dokdo Island.

The Koreas National Assembly, in order to preserve the ownership of Korea to Dokdo Isand, adopted a resolution on April 2, 2010 calling for a retraction of the decision of the Japanese to mark the island as its own territory in the elementary school textbooks of 2011 (Ro, 1). President Lee Myung-bak pledged to find ways how to strengthen the control of the country over the said island.

The National Assembly resolution stated that Dokdo is Korean territory as far as the historical and geographical aspects and international law are concerned. Likewise, the resolution also demands for the Japanese government to remove from its textbooks the ownership of the Dokdo Island.

The Korean government believes that through proper education of the people of Korea and Japan, the preservation of the ownership of the Dokdo Island would be put into proper context.

Hence, with the resolution of the National Assembly, the Japanese government is encouraged to retract its decision to put in their textbooks that the country has the control over the island. President Lee Myung-bak, in addition, said at a meeting with representatives of the ruling Grand National Party last April 2, 2010 that he would actively review the plan to step up Koreas effective control over Dokdo, which was suggested by the representatives (Ro, 1).

Nevertheless, prior to the meeting of President Myung-bak, Prime Minister Chung Un-chan publicly announced the Japanese governments decision about the resolution. At a policy briefing as to the analysis of the elementary school textbooks of Japan, Chung said that Dokdo is unquestionably Koreas territory and that there is no room for discussion over the issue (Ro, 1).

Amidst the long conflicts of the two countries on the ownership of the Dokdo Island, it is a good thing that the problem was put into its end. The Japanese governments decision to bring back the full ownership of the Dokdo Island to Korea is indeed a way of preserving the friendship of the future generations of the two countries.  

If the Japanese government will continue to fight over the ownership of the Dokdo Island, there might be problem in the national sovereignty of the two countries.