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Having entered the Dokdo Research Institute in 2008, I encountered 2019 in no time. Ten years have already passed. I visited Dokdo more than once every year during that time.When I landed on Dokdo first, I felt as if gigantic rock islets stood tall in the East Sea. When I looked around the eastern islet calmly in early summer, I felt much different than before. The wind blew strongly behind my back and the sound of waves at the dock rang in my ears. The sky and waves confronted along the far-off horizontal line but the blue sky and the pale blue waves looked to be connected, as if they had been one from the outset. As I beheld the emerald wave break, dazzlingly spellbound, it started to rain over my head. A mixture of coldness and chill surging from behind my back and its dim touch shook my heart. The radiant emerald glimmer drew closer to me and I made up my mind to write a scholarly book about Dokdo, as though I had been under a spell.

“Empire’s Duplicity: Korea, Japan and Russia Surrounding Modern Dokdo”

Dokdo’s sovereignty and imperialism

Awareness of territory appeared while the “national” feeling of solidarity spread before and after the formation of modern nation states. However, imperialism is completely different from awareness of territory in that it targets not your own property but land other people already possess and inhabit. That also could cause problems. Various powers of imperialism in the 19^th century, in particular, were aware of the strategic value of Dokdo and the East Sea so well that they scrambled to exercise influence. That’s why sovereignty on Dokdo has no other alternative but to go with imperialism and the liquidation of past history rather than territory alone.

Dokdo and Ulleungdo seen through the data of Korea, Japan, and Russia

To verify the historical ground of claims and the evidence of the state administrative jurisdiction, regarded as important principles in international law precedents related to territorial land and waters, this book looks back on the transition of time while cross-analyzing the data of Korea, Japan, and Russia surrounding modern Ulleungdo and Dokdo. It set the year 1900 as a criterion in relation to the formation of the Korean Empire, making the era before then Part 1 “Russian and Japanese marine exploration and Korean Empire Order No. 14” and the era after then Part 2 “Russian and Japanese survey of Ulleungdo and Dokdo and Korean Empire’s awareness of territorial waters and policy.”

Part 1 looks at Russia’s exploration history in the East Sea through “Frigate ‘Pallada,’” a travelogue on Joseon’s East Sea by Russian author Ivan Goncharov in the mid-19th century, Russia’s East Sea-related data in the late 19th century kept at the archives of the Russian naval fleet in St. Petersburg, and the log of Olibucha. Based on its marine exploration in the 19th century, Russia recognized Korea’s strategic value after the Sino-Japanese War and began to expand its naval power in the Far East in earnest.

In the meantime, I traced how “Songdo” and “Jukdo,” Japanese names for Ulleungdo and Dokdo respectively, had been used erroneously through the review of the “Songdo colonization theory” raised in Japan around the same time and the “Songdo colonization plan” by Sewaki Hisato, its advocate and a trade clerk in Vladivostok. I concluded that it was intended to include Ulleungdo as Japan’s territory.

Exemplifying the case of Lee Gyu-won who had been sent to Ulleungdo as inspector during the reign of Gojong, the book reveals that the king had a strong awareness of territory concerning Ulleungdo at the time and Japanese people’s illegal intrusion into Ulleungdo emerged as a diplomatic issue between Joseon and Japan. It also confirms that the enactment of Korean Empire Order No. 41 that stipulated that Ulleungdo and Dokdo were Joseon’s territory on Oct. 25 1900 was part of efforts to establish administrative networks aimed at preventing Japanese people’s illegal residence on Ulleungdo.

The main content dealt with in Part 2 “Russian and Japanese survey of Ulleungdo and Dokdo and Korean Empire’s awareness of territorial waters and policy” is as follows.

Russia accumulated information on Korea, publishing such books as “Overview of Korea” by Russian diplomat Alexandrovic Pogio, “Korean Geography” by Russia’s finance ministry, and “Overview of Korea” by oriental scholar Khuner from the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century. These materials included Dokdo in Korea’s territory by recording information on Ulleungdo and Dokdo. Meanwhile, Russian warships surveyed Ulleungdo’s topography while residing in Ulleungdo fully from 1899 through 1903, which was to prepare for naval warfare against Japan in anticipation of the Russo-Japanese War.

In response to contentions to include Dokdo from Nakai Yojaburo and other fishing workers, Higashi Bunske, chief of Oki Island, intervened deeply enough to rename Dokdo “Jukdo,” and Shimane Prefecture scrutinized the topography and fishing conditions of Ulleungdo and Dokdo from 1905 to 1906 fully. The original copy of “Shimane Prefecture Notice No. 40,” which was said to stipulate the inclusion of Dokdo in Japan’s territory, was destroyed when the prefecture’s building was burnt to ashes in 1945. Given that news outlets including newspapers didn’t run mentions on Dokdo officially in 1905 and that the notice Japan claims currently was written in print letters, not cursive letters, unlike other ordinary official documents, the authenticity of the copy is also in doubt.

Empire’s duplicity confirmed through territory

Through these facts, the author looked at Russia’s and Japan’s duplicity trying to expand their territories by squaring power with humans while supporting imperialism. In particular, the Japanese government justified its unlawful inclusion of Dokdo and protected Japanese people’s economic invasion of Ulleungdo by exploiting fishing industrialist Nakai Yojaburo and stimulating Japanese fishermen’s “patriotism.” The Russian government let merchant Briner obtain forest development concessions in Ulleungdo and worked out a plan to use Ulleungdo, including Dokdo as its marine stronghold. After all, powers like empires didn’t hesitate to use their own nationals as tools for military aggression while promising an affluent country through colonization policies characterized by the pursuit of supremacy and the formation of their scope of influence and encouraging commercial activities by their people. Readers will be able to confirm through this book that empires’ duplicity is projected in East Asia against the backdrop of Ulleungdo and Dokdo.