Dokdo Is Korean Territory: The Evidence

Summary

Korea's position is that Dokdo has been Korean territory since Silla absorbed Usan-guk in 512, a status recognised by Japan's own central government in 1696 and again in 1877. It was formally placed under Korean county administration in 1900, then taken by Japan in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. Korea regained it in 1945, and Korea has governed it ever since.

1. 512 Silla subjugates Usan-guk (Samguk Sagi)
2. 1454 Sejong Sillok Jiriji records two islands, Usan and Mureung, east of Uljin
3. 1696 Tokugawa shogunate bans Japanese voyages to Ulleungdo after diplomatic dispute with Joseon
4. 1770 Dongguk Munheon Bigo: "Usan is what the Japanese call Matsushima"
5. 1877 Japan's Dajōkan (Council of State): Ulleungdo "and one other island" have nothing to do with Japan
6. 1900 Korean Imperial Decree No. 41 places Seokdo under Uldo County
7. 1905 Japan's Cabinet "incorporates" the island as Takeshima during the Russo-Japanese War
8. 1946 SCAPIN 677 excludes Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo) from Japanese administration
9. 1952–54 Korea's Peace Line; Korean garrison stationed on Dokdo

1x

Dokdo lies within sight of Korea's Ulleungdo but nowhere near the Japanese mainland. Islanders always treated it as part of Ulleungdo's world.

Dokdo consists of two main islets, Dongdo (East) and Seodo (West), plus about 89 smaller rocks, formed by volcanic activity roughly 4.6 million years ago. On clear days it is visible from Ulleungdo with the naked eye. This is the geographic fact behind the old Korean records that say the two islands "can be seen from each other when the weather is clear." From Oki, Japan's nearest island, it cannot be seen.

2x

Korean official histories and geographies consistently record a second island, Usan, alongside Ulleungdo (Mureung) as part of the former Usan-guk.

3x

In 1693–1699 Joseon and Tokugawa Japan negotiated over Ulleungdo, an episode known in Korea as the Ulleungdo Jaenggye. The outcome confirmed both islands as Korean.

Japanese fishermen from Yonago had sailed to Ulleungdo under a shogunate tokai menkyo (voyage licence). Korea notes that such licences were required for voyages to foreign lands, so the licence itself shows Ulleungdo was not regarded as Japanese. They used Dokdo (then "Matsushima") as a stopover on the way. After Japanese fishermen took the Korean fisherman An Yong-bok to Japan in 1693, the two governments negotiated.

• December 1695: asked by the shogunate, the Tottori domain replied in writing that neither Takeshima (Ulleungdo) nor Matsushima (Dokdo) belonged to its provinces of Inaba and Hōki.
• January 1696: the shogunate banned Japanese voyages to Ulleungdo. Dokdo was reached only as a stop on the way to Ulleungdo, so the ban effectively ended Japanese use of Dokdo as well.
• 1696: a Japanese investigation record, the Genroku Kyu Heishi-nen Chōsen-bune Chakugan Ikkan no Oboegaki, found in Oki in 2005, notes An Yong-bok's map listing Takeshima and Matsushima as part of Korea's Gangwon Province.

4x

The strongest evidence comes from Japan itself. In 1877, the Meiji government's highest organ ruled that Ulleungdo and Dokdo were not Japanese territory.

In 1870 the Japanese Foreign Ministry's report Chōsenkoku Kōsai Shimatsu Naitansho investigated "how Takeshima and Matsushima came to belong to Korea." In 1876, while compiling land registers, Shimane Prefecture asked whether the two islands should be included. The Home Ministry reviewed the 1690s records and referred the question to the Dajōkan (Council of State), then Japan's supreme governing body. Its directive of 29 March 1877 reads:

xDajōkan Directive, 29 March 1877, National Archives of Japan

The Shimane submission attached a sketch map, the Isotakeshima Ryakuzu, which shows both Ulleungdo and Dokdo, so "one other island" can only mean Dokdo. Japanese researchers, starting with Hori Kazuo in 1987, brought this document to wide attention.

The original Dajōkan Directive is held by the National Archives of Japan; Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reproduces it on its Dokdo website (image reproduction restricted, so linked here).

5x

Five years before Japan's incorporation, the Korean Empire formally placed Dokdo under a Korean county by a decree published in the official gazette.

On 25 October 1900, Emperor Gojong's Imperial Decree No. 41 renamed Ulleungdo as Uldo, raised it to county status, and defined the county's jurisdiction as "the whole of Ulleungdo, Jukdo and Seokdo." Seokdo means "rock island." In the Gyeongsang dialect spoken by Ulleungdo settlers, "rock" is dok, so the island was called Dokseom, written in characters as 獨島, Dokdo. Jukdo is the small island just off Ulleungdo. The only other island in the area is Dokdo.

In March 1906, Uldo County Magistrate Sim Heung-taek learned from visiting Shimane officials that Japan claimed to have incorporated the island. He reported at once that "Dokdo, which belongs to this county," had been taken. The State Council replied that the claim was "entirely groundless" and ordered an inquiry. By then Japan had stripped Korea of its diplomatic rights through the November 1905 Eulsa Treaty, so Korea could not protest abroad.

Decree No. 41 original: National Archives of Korea, Dokdo records.

6x

Japan says it lawfully occupied terra nullius, land belonging to no one. Korea's position is that Dokdo already belonged to Korea, and that the taking was the first step in Japan's annexation of Korea.

• Not terra nullius. Korea had administered the island under Decree No. 41 since 1900. Japan had itself ruled in 1877 that the island was not Japanese.
• Wartime motive. The 1904 petition of fisherman Nakai Yōzaburō, at first addressed as if the island were Korean, was pushed through by foreign ministry official Yamaza Enjirō for its value as a naval watch post during the Russo-Japanese War.
• No notice to Korea. The cabinet decision of 28 January 1905 was published only as a Shimane Prefectural notice (No. 40, 22 February 1905). It was not notified to Korea or to other states.
• Part of annexation. In 1904 Japan had already forced Korea into the Japan–Korea Protocol and First Agreement. Diplomatic sovereignty was taken in November 1905, and annexation followed in 1910.

7x

The Allies committed to stripping Japan of territories taken "by violence and greed," and their occupation authority expressly separated Dokdo from Japan.

• Cairo Declaration (1943): Japan "will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed." The Potsdam Declaration (1945) limited Japanese sovereignty to the four main islands and "such minor islands as we determine."
• SCAPIN 677 (29 January 1946): the Allied Supreme Commander excluded "Utsuryo (Ullung) Island, Liancourt Rocks (Take Island) and Quelpart (Saishu or Cheju) Island" from Japanese governmental and administrative authority.
• SCAPIN 1033 (June 1946): the "MacArthur Line" barred Japanese vessels and crews from approaching within 12 miles of Dokdo.
• US military records (1948): a declassified US military document released in 2026 records that Dokdo was "clearly" part of Korea.
• San Francisco Peace Treaty (1951): Article 2(a) renounces "Korea, including the islands of Quelpart, Port Hamilton and Dagelet." These are examples, not a complete list; Korea has more than 3,000 islands, and Dokdo was never Japanese before its 1905 seizure. The first five US drafts (1947–49) and the British draft of April 1951 placed Dokdo outside Japan.

8x

Korea has exercised peaceful, continuous and effective sovereignty over Dokdo for over seventy years, and people live there.

• A national police garrison has been stationed on the East Islet since 1954, preceded by the volunteer guard of Ulleungdo residents in 1953–54.
• Korea maintains a lighthouse (since 1954), a heliport, a wharf, and civilian residents with registered addresses at Dokdo-ri.
• Dokdo is protected as a national Natural Monument (Dokdo Natural Reserve) and is open to visitors, who arrive by ferry from Ulleungdo.
• Korea's 1952 Peace Line included Dokdo; Korea issued Dokdo postage stamps in 1954.

Japan's main arguments, and Korea's responses

Japan's government maintains that Takeshima is "an inherent part of Japan's territory" and that Korea occupies it illegally. These are its main arguments, set out in the foreign ministry's 10 Issues of Takeshima (2008), with Korea's replies.

Several points remain contested in scholarship, chiefly the identification of Usando in early maps, the meaning of the 1877 "one other island," and the weight of the San Francisco Treaty drafting history. The United States officially takes no position on sovereignty and uses the neutral name "Liancourt Rocks." Readers can consult Japan's case directly in the foreign ministry pamphlet.

Sources and original documents

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, Dokdo: Q&A on Dokdo and historical evidence timeline
• National Archives of Korea, Dokdo records (Sukjong Sillok, Decree No. 41); Peace Line declaration
• Northeast Asian History Foundation, Dokdo guide, primary sources list (PDF)
• Ministry of Justice (Korea), study on US military government administration of Dokdo after 1945
• Segye Ilbo, explanation of the 1877 Dajōkan Directive (2023)
• Gyeongbuk Maeil, licensed editions of Kaisei Nihon Yochi Rotei Zenzu (2023)
• Daum/Yonhap, 1948 US military classified document on Dokdo (July 2026)
• Kyunghyang Shinmun, US Board on Geographic Names reversal (2008)
• Japan's position: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 Issues of Takeshima; Cabinet Secretariat, Takeshima exhibition and SCAPIN materials