뉴스레터

Sea Lion’s Featured in the Encyclopedia of Animals, published in Japan in 1712

In June 2020, a video was released on the website and YouTube of The Japan Institute of International Affairs(hereinafter referred to as the Institute), an affiliated organization under the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The video shows the testimony that Japanese fishermen have caught Sea Lion in the vicinity of Dokdo before Dokdo was incorporated into Shimane Prefecture in 1905.

According to the contents of the video, the witness's grandfather, Matsutaro Ishibashi, is introduced as a pioneer who fished Sea Lion around Dokdo. Ishibashi reportedly caught Sea Lion on Dokdo with Yozaburo Nakai, who submitted a petition for the transfer of territory and lease to the Japanese government in September 1904. This explains that the actual condition of the fishery of Dokdo before Dokdo was incorporated into Shimane Prefecture in 1905.

This is a video of the results of the Dokdo-related historical data survey and listening project in 2018. It was commissioned by Professor Rikinobu Funasugi(History Geography Department of Shimane University) to clarify the actual condition of fishing on Dokdo by the time Dokdo was incorporated into Shimane Prefecture in 1905. Since 2019, the institute has launched a project to release videos of people related to Dokdo taking testimony in parallel with listening investigations. They released five videos on YouTube claiming they were related to Dokdo. In the future, it will also make videos containing foreign language subtitles such as English and Korean. This video is intended to inherit the memory of Dokdo to the next generation by using it in education at school. It also aims to promote the international community to recognize that Dokdo has never been a territory of other countries in history.

Japanese Government Turns Direction of Policy Related to Dokdo

Recently, the Japanese government has been strengthening its publicity and education to promote Dokdo as its territory under long-term and detailed plans. In 2013, the Japanese government set up a territorial sovereignty planning and coordination office and is shifting its territorial and sovereignty policies to offensive directions.

In January 2020, the Japanese government expanded and transferred the National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty, which claims that Dokdo is Japanese territory. In March, the government decided to include in all Japanese middle school social studies textbooks for geography, civil affairs, and history subjects, which will be used from 2021, "Japan legally incorporated Dokdo into Shimane Prefecture in 1905" and "Korea illegally occupies Dokdo, a territory with sovereignty in Japan." The Japanese government's claim has been around for decades, and the infrastructure of propaganda, publicity and education is increasing.

The Japanese Government is strengthening its domestic research projects as well as education and publicity to justify its claims. To carry out policies related to territory and sovereignty, they continue to promote in connection with the field where education is conducted. The collected data are divided into general, educational, and researcher's use, and provided with commentary in an easy-to-understand form through an exhibition hall or website. It also continues to support highly learned and experienced experts who are engaged in academic research and collection of territorial and sovereign history, or literature and historical materials.

The Japan Institute of International Affairs to be mobilized for territorial projects

The Japan Institute of International Affairs has recently begun to mobilize to promote the unilateral claims of the Japanese government related to Dokdo. It was established in 1959 for research on international issues, the dissemination of knowledge and active exchanges with overseas. This is a research institute responsible for mid- to long-term research on foreign affairs, focusing on policy research, symposiums, lectures, and publishing projects. It was selected by a US agency in 2020 as the best think tank in Japan, ranked first in Japan and Asia, and ranked 13th in the world.

In 2017, the institute established a territorial and historical center to start research and publicity in the areas of territory, sovereignty and history. Specifically, it collects, organizes, and promotes domestic and overseas data on the above fields, holds domestic and overseas public symposiums, conducts surveys and research. It also translates into foreign languages(especially English) to make it easier for the interested classes and policy communities abroad to use the data, and promotes it through booklets published by the institute.

Oki fishermen catching Sea Lion on Dokdo using gill net(1934)

Catched Sea Lion is being put in a wooden box alive(1934) ⓒSeohaeMoonjib

Meaning that Japan captured sea lion on Dokdo

At the end of the 19th century, Japan advanced to the continent and tried to keep the Korean Peninsula under their influence. They began to take control of Joseon, winning the Sino-Japanese War and assassinating Empress Myeongseong. In June 1903, the council in the Royal Presence decided that "we should solve problems related to Korea that have not been solved in the past few years." In December of the same year, the council decided that "Korea will be under Japanese power no matter what the situation is."

In February 1904, Japan attacked and defeated two Russian warships docked off Incheon. Furthermore, they oppress Korea to sign the Korea-Japan Protocol. And militaryly, they expropriated the areas they needed, making them use themselves at will. Japan has set up a framework for colonial rule over Korea.

Above all, Japan's aggressive ambitions are revealed nakedly in the code that specifically sets the policy of the empire against Korea and the policy of the Japanese colonial policy. This was the basis for Japan's military invasion and economic invasion on the Korean peninsula. In addition, after the signing of the first Korea-Japan Convention in August 1904, Japan certainly took control of the power of military and finance. By restricting the right of the Korean government to sign a treaty, Japan established the Right of Diplomatic Protection against Korea.

The Japanese imperialists took away Korea's financial, diplomatic and military powers to invade the Korean peninsula. Since then, Japan has begun to make Korea a protectorate. In this process, the act of capturing the sea lion in Dokdo can not be the basis for them to claim the sovereignty over Dokdo. This is only evidence of Japan plundering the Korean Peninsula.