Award Winning Works of 5th Int'l Essay Contest on Dokdo Bronze Prize

Historically, Dokdo is Korean land

Bronze Prize Dilip Kumar Roy This writer is a consultant on public policy issues.

Dokdo is synonymous with the existence of Koreans.

Some 1,500 years ago, since the age of Silla Kingdom, Dokdo belonged to Korea. "Samguksagi" and "Sejongjirisillok" are documentary evidences to support this fact.

Japan claims that Dokdo is a part of its territory though it had never established its territorial sovereignty over Dokdo, in any period in history.

Japan argues that the Republic of Korea (ROK) is illegally occupying Dokdo, against which Japan has been consistently making strong protests.

Besides the documents mentioned above, there are a number of important historical evidences in both Korea and Japan, which clearly prove that Dokdo is Korea's territory, including Sejong Silok Jiriji ("Geographical Appendix to the Veritable Records of King Sejong," 1454), Mangi Yoram ("The Book of Ten Thousand Techniques of Governance," 1808), the Korean Imperial Ordinance No.41 (1900), a document by the Edo Shogunate prohibiting Japanese fishermen from the passage to Ulleungdo (1696), Chosenkoku Kosai-Shimatsu Naitansho ("Confidential Inquiry into the Particulars of Korea's Relations with Japan," 1870) issued by the Meiji government, and the 1877 Dajokan Order.

Japan made an infamous attempt to establish territorial sovereignty over Dokdo by usurping through violence against Korean people and greed for Korean land in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. This was Japan's full-scale land-grabbing war.

Using its geopolitical position of Dokdo and Ulleungdo, Japan attacked the Russia's Baltic fleet, and won the war in 1905.

Five years later, Japan occupied Korea by force and committed unspeakable atrocities upon Koreans for 35 years.

However, Korea already established its territorial sovereignty over the island before that.

Japan's subsequent claim over these islands is based on the fallout of its peace treaty with the United States, consequent to its capitulation, before the Allied Power, at the result of the Second World War in 1945.

Korea was a colony of Imperial Japan at that time. Collapse of the Imperial Japan in the World War II led to the independence of Korea.
Korea's territory was returned to Koreans.

Then, ROK was established in Aug. 15, 1948.

However, failing to abandon its militaristic desire, Japan has been claiming its proprietary rights of Dokdo until now.

According to Japan, in the Treaty of Peace with the country, the United States rejected ROK's request to include Dokdo, in the relevant articles of the Treaty, as one of the areas Japan would renounce, claiming that Dokdo was under jurisdiction of the Japan.

Initially, the United States recognized Dokdo as Korea's territory, and the temporary change in U.S. position was only due to strategic lobbying by Japan.

Japan has failed to show logical consistency in its assertion that Dokdo, of which there is no provision in the San Francisco Peace Treaty, should be its territory.

Besides under the directives of the General Headquarters of Allied Power and consequent to the ratification of the San Francisco Treaty of peace with Japan, Dokdo was excluded from its jurisdiction.

Dokdo was separated from Japan, to be under the U.S. military rule, until the island-along with numerous other islands, in accordance to U.N. resolution-was handed over to the Government of Korea.

The San Francisco Peace Treaty merely confirmed these facts. This was ubsequently acknowledged by Japan.

Japan further argues that although it proposed to ROK, to refer the dispute over Dokdo to the International Court of Justice, ROK has rejected this proposal.

A remarkable self-contradiction exists in Japan's position.

Though Japan refused to bring the issue of Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands or the "Four Northern Territories" to the International Court of Justice, it asserted that the Dokdo issue should be solved through a decision from the Court.

Since Dokdo is an integral part of the Korea's territory, Korea saw no reason as to why it should turn to a court.

Thus Japan's claim on the Korean island is nothing but a unilateral, invalid, and illegal attempt to infringe upon Korea's territorial sovereignty over Dokdo. The only appropriate solutionfor Japan is to relinquish its assertion, which is based on its dark colonial history that inflicted so much pain on Korean people.

To Koreans, Dokdo is their spiritual birthplace.

Dokdo captures its onlookers' soul with its scenic beauty and made up with volcanic islands, rare sea birds such as fork-tailed petrel, Seum-se and black-tailed gull inhabiting in its islands.

Dokdo is an island of great historical meaning in that it is an area Korea has finally restored to itself.

To Koreans, Dokdo is a part of their body. To dismember a limb from a living human is the worst form of cruelty that can be perpetrated.

The conscience of international community will thus not tolerate anything to the contrary relating to Dokdo's permanent integration with Korea as that will be a repetition of a historic wrong done over a century ago.