Liancourt Rocks dispute

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The Liancourt Rocks dispute, also called the Takeshima dispute or Dokdo dispute is a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan^[1][2][3][4] regarding sovereignty over the Liancourt Rocks, a group of small islets in the Sea of Japan. The rocks also go by the names Dokdo (Korean: 독도; Hanja: 獨島) and Takeshima (Japanese: 竹島).^[5] North Korea also claims sovereignty of the islands, but has not pursued its claim to the same extent as the other parties.^[6]

The Liancourt Rocks have been administered by South Korea since 1952 by the Korea Coast Guard.^[7] This action was taken after the United States stated in the Rusk documents that the Japanese claim to the Liancourt Rocks would not be renounced in Japan's post-World-War-II peace treaty. In 1954, Japan proposed a reference to the International Court of Justice, which South Korea rejected, believing that the Liancourt Rocks are irrefutably South Korean territories, and thus should not be dealt through diplomatic negotiations or judicial settlement between South Korea and Japan.^[8]

There are conflicting interpretations about the historical state of sovereignty over the islets. Korean claims are partly based on references to a Korean island called Usan-do in various historical records, maps and encyclopedias such as the Samguk Sagi, Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, Dongguk Yeoji Seungnam (동국여지승람; 東國輿地勝覧), and Dongguk munheon bigo (동국문헌비고; 東國文獻備考). According to the Korean view, these refer to today's Liancourt Rocks, while the Japanese researchers of these documents have stated that the various references to Usan-do refer at different times to Jukdo, its neighboring island Ulleungdo, or a non-existent island between Ulleungdo and Korea.^[9]

Researchers disagree on who first had administrative control over the islets due to ambiguities in early historical records and maps, owing partly to changes in the names of the islands in the area over the years.