독도 영유권의 증명

Abstract

Korean sovereignty over the islet of Tokdo has been evident from time

immemorial due to the visible proximity from the mother island Ulleung-do

located some 92 km away. Ulleung-do has always been under Korean

sovereignty since it was concurred in AD 512 during the Shilla Dynasty. At

no time was the Korean sovereignty over Ulleung-do challenged by Japan, so

should be the fate of the islet of Tokdo, unless otherwise proved. Even the

Japanese have treated these two islands as a pair, calling them Matzu-shima

(pine island) and Take-shima (bamboo island). In the traditional East Asian

culture, pine and bamboo represent a pair, like yin and yang, the heaven and

the earth, etc. Historical documents produced by the Japanese government

before ushering in the twentieth century had declared that the pair of islands

belonged to Korea. The Tokugawa government even decapitated the Japanese

for going fishing to the pair of islands in violation of the closed sea rule in

order to clarify the Korean sovereignty over it. A Japanese historical document

Onshu-shiteigoki published in 1667 by the provincial government also

designated the border of the two countries to be about midway between

Tokdo and Okino-shima in Japan. The Meiji government also recognized

Korean sovereignty over the pair of islands in 1877. Almost all the historical

materials and maps published in Japan in the nineteenth century also show

Korean sovereignty thereover.

It was only in the early twentieth century at the time of the Russo-

Japanese War, that Japan started to show her greed over Tokdo due to its

geo-political location, which was advantageous in waging the naval war. Thus

the Japanese incorporation of Tokdo on February 22, 1905, alleging that it...