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Since winning the Sino-Japanese War, Japan has done a lot of illegal logging and fishing in Ulleungdo. Then, as a way to prevent Japanese territorial provocations, Gojong enacted and distributed the Korean Empire Edict No. 41 on October 25, 1900. This is an amendment of the administrative law that upgrades Ulleungdo to Uldogoon to control Ulleungdo, Jukdo, and Seokdo(today Dokdo), and exalts the administrative director from Ulleungdogam to Uldogoonsoo. Therefore, Edict No. 41 is an important historical evidence to reaffirm that the Korean Empire was in possession of Ulleungdo and Dokdo.

Map of Inner Ulleung-do, Map of Outer Ulleung-do

(Collection of Kyujanggak Institute For Korean Studies)

The Joseon government appointed Lee Kyu-won as an inspector after the incident that caught seven Japanese people illegally deforesting in Ulleungdo. And the government dispatched him to Ulleungdo to look at the arrival and departure of Japanese people and closely investigate the terrain of Ulleungdo and the surrounding islands. Lee Kyu-won reported to the government by attaching a map to the contents of the investigation while staying in Ulleungdo. At this time, the two maps are ‘Map of Inner Ulleung-do’ based on the actual survey, and ‘Map of Outer Ulleung-do’ painted by naming the island and reefs while looking at Ulleungdo from the sea.