竹島(＝独島)問題の歴史学的一考察

A Historical Consideration of the Takeshima (=Dokdo) Issue

The Liancourt Rocks, also known as Dokdo or Tokto in Korean or Takeshima in Japanese, are a group of small islets in the East Sea. The islets are between the Korean peninsula and the Oki-islands of Japan. The islets can be seen from Ulleung island which is about 50km from the west of Takeshima. Ulleung island is a place where the fishermen of Korea and Japan have been working together since Edo-era. In 1696 and 1837, the Edo bakufu ordered the Japanese fishermen not to come to the Ulleung island and Takeshima, and recognized Takeshima as the territory of Korea. In Meji government pronounced that Takeshima islands(Ulleung islands) and ex-Matushima(Takeshima) did not belong to Japan. In 1905, Japan forcibly occupied Takeshima. Japan was defeated by the allied army in World War Ⅱ. San Fransisco peace treaty made Japan give up all the territories including Takeshima islands that Japan had occupied. Of course, Japan insisted to U.S.A. that Takeshima islands belong to Japan s territory. The demand of Japanese government is once said to be recognized. In 1950, Korean government demanded to America that Takeshima islands should belong to Korean territories but it was rejected by U.S.A. By the way, Korean government declared President Yi Seungman s Line in order to protect the sources of fishing. In 1954, Korean government sent the Korean army to the islands and militarily occupied the islands. In spite of Japanese government s protest against the occupation, Korea rejected it. After that, the situation continued, and finally The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea was signed on June 22, 1965 to establish basic relationship between Japan and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). But still the issue of the islands has not been solved. Whenever Japanese people insisted that the islands belong to their own territory, Korean people protested against it violently. Japan also has not accepted Korea s behavior so far.