한말의 울릉도 어업과 독도 영유권 문제

Fishery off Ulleungdo and Territory Issue on Dokdo

In October 1900, the Great Han Empire promulgated the “Imperial Ordinance No.41” renaming Ulleungdo “Uldo”, upgrading it to an administrative unit of gun, putting all islands of Ulleungdo, Jukdo and Seokdo under the jurisdiction of the Uldo-gun Governor. A name of Seokdo means a stone island. It is present-day’s Dokdo. However, there is no official evidence showing it. Then, Japanese government doubts why the Imperial 0rdinance of 1900 did not use “Dokdo” in the text, why the name “Usan Island”, which the ROK claimed to be the former name of Dokdo, was not used, and when and how the name Dokdo was first used. Even if such doubts will be clarified, they still claim that no evidence that Korea had ever exercised effective control over Dokdo around the time of the promulgation of the ‘Imperial 0rdinance No.41’ and therefore, Korea never had established sovereignty over Dokdo. A Key to clarify questions is history of fishery off Ulleungdo and Dokdo. There were no officials who actually surveyed Dokdo around the time, though Dokdo was seen by eyes from height of Ulleungdo. Only fishermen actually went to Dokdo. Then, Concrete recognition of the island was formed by activities of fishermen. In this study, process of its recognition is investigated through fishery off Ulleungdo and Dokdo at the last years of the Great Han Empire Era, 1876~1910. Fishery off Ulleungdo changed its feature as time went by. It is divided as follows. Period 1: From opening of Korea to the the Sino-Japanese war Period 1-1: Trespass of Japanese fishermen (1876~1883) Period 1-2: Fishery according to the “Korea-Japan Trading Regulations” (1883~1894) Period 2: From the Sino-Japanese war to the Russo-Japanese war Period 2-1: Japanese illegal residence (1894~1899) Period 2-2: Japanese residence supported by the Japanese government (1899~1904) Period 3: After the Russo-Japanese war (1904~1910) Despite the government’s policy of leaving Ulleungdo vacant at the period 1-1, every spring Koreans came to Ulleungdo and sent a large amount of seaweed gathered. However, other fishery was negligible. At the same time, Japanese started to trespass on Ulleungdo under support by the Japanese Navy. They illegally logged and gathered abalones. However, they were forcibly pulled out by the Japanese government accepting the protest by the Korean government in 1883. This incident made the Korean government change its policy on Ulleungdo; the vacant island policy was abolished, and instead, an active development policy was implemented. In 1888, the Korean government concluded the “Korea-Japan Trading Regulations” with the Japanese government. The Regulations permitted Japanese fishing off Korean sea including Ulleungdo, but prohibited to build any workshop which is necessary for processing fish. So, Japanese fishery at Ulleungdo was not frequently engaged at the period 1-2. After the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese government promoted deep-sea fishing at the period 2-1. Then, some Japanese fishermen went to Ulleungdo and lived there illegally. They were accepted by the Ulleungdo Chief, levying export tax to him. However, the Japanese government ordered Japanese residents in Ulleungdo to pull out in 1899, accepting protest by Korea and Russia. However, some Japanese including fishermen neglected the order and continued to live in Ulleungdo. Soon, the Japanese government changed their policy and supported their residence in Ulleungdo. In 1899, fishermen started fishing off Dokdo (Liancourt rocks). They caught sharks and gathered abalones there. As a result of such activity, Dokdo is firmly recognized as the subsidiary island of Ulleungdo by Korean and Japanese officials. On the other hand, Korean fishermen called Dokdo as Dok-seom, meaning ‘stone island on the basis of their dialect in the Jeollado area.