No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
At a time when territorial conflicts in East Asia repeatedly raise tensions between China and Japan (Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands), North and South Korea (the Northern Limit Line) and Japan-Russia (the Northern Islands/Kurils), it is worth recalling that disputes continue to simmer not only between long-time rivals, but also among allies.
1 I am indebted for comments and suggestions to Reinhard Drifte, Kimie Hara, and Heonik Kwon.
2 In addition to the residents, 613 households totaling 2,051 Koreans had formally established permanent residence on Dokdo as of 2007 in response to Japanese claims to the islets, link. In 2005, the first 26 Japanese residents established domicile; by February 2011, they numbered 69 and a total of 520 Japanese had established residence in areas contested by neighbors such as the Kuriles, Senkakus/Diaoyu, and Okinotorishima. Reiji Yoshida, “26 Japanese register Takeshima ‘domicile,‘” Japan Times, May 18, 2005; “69 Japanese Change Domicile to Dokdo Islets,” Chosun Ilbo Feb 21, 2011. It should be noted that North Korea also claims Dokdo as Korean territory.
3 Troubled Apologies. Among Japan, Korea, and the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), p. 19. The contrasting approaches of the English and Japanese language Wikipedia entries on Dokdo and the historical and contemporary Dokdo disputes, accessed April 15, 2009,, illustrate the problem. The English entry more or less randomly intersperses Japanese and Korean interpretations of the historical record dating back to the 12th century, making it virtually impossible for the reader to gauge the validity, or reconcile, alternate perspectives on the historical claims over the millennium. The English Wikipedia gives fair warning: “the entry may contain unverifiable claims, it may be confusing, it does not meet Wikipedia's quality standards, and much of it is written in the style of a debate rather than an encyclopedia entry.” The Japanese entry, by contrast, presents a clear juxtaposition of the different positions of the ROK and Japanese governments grounded in such crucial sources as the relevant SCAPINS (677, 1033), international law textbooks, Gaimusho and Korean statements. Both entries introduce Japanese, Korean and English sources, including government documents. Eschewing the alternative approach of presenting side-by-side Japanese and Korean (and other) interpretations, English Wikipedia sallies forth in the conviction that with sufficient good will, the truth will emerge from the more or less indiscriminate presentation of historical evidence by all concerned. The results, however, mainly breed confusion. When I returned to the Japanese entry on March 3, 2011, the URL had changed.), the page was locked, a stern injunction called for preservation of neutrality, and Takeshima had been renamed as Takeshima-Shimaneken… Takeshima, a Japanese prefecture, meaning that the island was claimed for Japan.
4 For discussion of the 1905 and 1910 treaties, see Totsuka Etsuro, “Japan's Colonization of Korea in Light of International Law,” The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 9 No 1, February 28, 2011. Totsuka argues that Japanese coercion, and the fact that the Korean king signed neither treaty renders them illegal and null and void from the outset. The issue has spawned an immense, and immensely contentious, Korean and Japanese literature. Yet one wonders whether fruitful discussion might be directed toward interrogating the entire structure of international law that legitimated colonial rule.
5 For a Korean interpretation of the role of Dokdo in the Russo-Japanese War see Northeast Asia History Foundation, The History of Dokdo, Seoul: 2007,
6 Stewart Lone and Gavan McCormack, Korea Since 1850, New York: St. Martin's, 1993, 41-47. Bruce Cumings, Korea's Place in the Sun. A Modern History, New York: W. W. Norton, updated edition, 2005, pp. 143-45.
7 Cumings, op.cit., p. 140.
8 For a Korean discussion of Dokdo in the Russo-Japanese War, see “The Russo-Japanese War and Dokdo,” pp. 27-37. – Takeshima. Imperial Japan's Real Motives for the 1905 Annexation of Dokdo, link. The depth of Korean passions over Dokdo is well documented in the blogosphere, including the number and tone of the thousands of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter entries, including official presentations, but much larger numbers of citizen creations and discussions. See Jukka Jouhki, Dokdo Island Dispute: Korean Reconstruction of History and National Identity in User-Created Content Media, link.
9 Cold War Frontiers in the Asia-Pacific. Divided territories in the San Francisco System, London: Routledge, 2007. See also Kimie Hara and Geoffrey Jukes, eds., Untying the Kurillian Knot. Asia-Pacific Regional Conflicts, Multilateralism and Inspirations from the Åland Settlement, London: Routledge, 2009. A useful timeline on US policies toward Dokdo, drawing on US and Korean documentary sources, is “The United States' Involvement with Dokdo Island (Liancourt Rocks): A Timeline of the Occupation and Korean War Era,” link.
10 Hara, Cold War Frontiers in the Asia-Pacific, p. 9. Kent Calder subsequently noted that the failure of the San Francisco Treaty to establish clear territorial boundaries, thereby leaving unresolved numerous dispute, was a factor in making Northeast Asia the “‘Arc of Crisis’ that it has been ever since.” “Securing Security through Prosperity: The San Francisco System in Comparative Perspective,” Pacific Review 17, March 2004, pp. 135-139.
11 Hara, pp. 44-45.
12 Seokwoo Lee and John M. Van Dyke, “The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and Its Relevance to the Sovereignty over Dokdo,” Chinese Journal of International Law Vol 9, 4, 2010, pp. 741-62.
13 Liancourt Rocks Bombing Range: 1947-1952, beginning with SCAPIN 1778 in 1947, link.
14 Lee and Van Dyke, “The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and Its Relevance to the Sovereignty over Dokdo.”
15 Link.
16 See also Tessa Morris-Suzuki's compelling analysis of Japanese handling of Koreans in the postwar decade, specifically the border controls that denied Koreans (many of whom were Japanese citizens, from re-entry from Korea, and subsequently, sending tens of thousands of Korean residents (Zainichi) to North Korea. Guarding the Borders of Japan: Occupation, Korean War and Frontier Controls, The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 8 No 3, February 21, 2011; Refugees, Abductees, “Returnees”: Human Rights in Japan-North Korea Relations, The Asia-Pacific Journal, March 29, 2009.
17 On the Dokdo dispute in the 1965 R.O.K.-Japan Normalization Treaty negotiations, see this link. This website provides documentation and analysis of the Dokdo question including the territorial dispute, link; Lee and Van Dyke, op.cit.
18 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea, link. See also Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea, link.
19 The Treaty followed a pattern that is common to all Japanese treaties with former colonies and territories invaded by Japan. In none of these agreements did Japan acknowledge war crimes or atrocities. Japan sought to resolve, or finesse, its historical obligations with financial payments without acknowledgment of responsibility. This pattern is, of course, hardly unique to Japan. It applies to the colonial powers generally, including the United States, and continues to fuel conflicts across East Asia and the Pacific. Yet it is Japan which has borne the onus of its failure to resolve historical legacies of colonialism and war, while the United States, as a superpower, that has again and again been able to elude responsibilities while claiming to set moral standards for international behavior.
20 William Underwood, “Redress Crossroads in Japan: Decisive Phase in Campaigns to Compensate Korean and Chinese Wartime Forced Laborers”; Ivy Lee with an Introduction by William Underwood, “Toward Reconciliation: The Nishimatsu Settlements for Chinese Forced Labor in World War Two”; Jian Kang, “Rejected by All Plaintiffs: Failure of the Nishimatsu-Shinanogawa “Settlement “with Chinese Forced Laborers in Wartime Japan”; Alexis Dudden, “Memories and Aporias in the Japan-Korea Relationship.”
21 Kim Dong-choon, “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea: Uncovering the Hidden Korean War”; Gavan McCormack and Kim Dong-Choon, “Grappling with Cold War History: Korea's Embattled Truth and Reconciliation Commission”; Heonik Kwon, “Healing the Wounds of War: New Ancestral Shrines in Korea”; Charles J. Hanley and Jae-Soon Chang, “Children ‘Executed’ in 1950 South Korean Killings: ROK and US responsibility”; Bruce Cumings, “The South Korean Massacre at Taejon: New Evidence on US Responsibility and Coverup.”
22 Kim Hyo Soon and Kil Yun Hyung, “Remembering and Redressing the Forced Mobilization of Korean Laborers by Imperial Japan”; William Underwood, “The Aso Mining Company in World War II: History and Japan's Would-Be Premier”; “Names, Bones and Unpaid Wages (1): Reparations for Korean Forced Labor in Japan”; “Names, Bones and Unpaid Wages (2): Seeking Redress for Korean Forced Labor.”
23 Yoshiko Nozaki and Mark Selden, “Japanese Textbook Controversies, Nationalism, and Historical Memory: Intra- and Inter-national Conflicts.”
24 Kimie Hara, “Rethinking the Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute in a Multilateral Framework,” Paper presented to the Taegu Conference on “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Dokdo's Sovereignty and Border Questions” held at Yeungnam University in Taegu on May 13-14, 2009; Reinhard Drifte, “Territorial Conflicts in the East China Sea – From Missed Opportunities to Negotiation Stalemate,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 22-03-09, June 1, 2009.
25 Kim Young-koo, “”What is the Controversy Over Dokdo All About? “Koreana 19:3, Autumn 2005, p. 14; Lee and Van Dyke, op.cit.
26 Kim Young-koo, op.cit; Jon Van Dyke, “North-East Asian Seas—Conflicts, Accomplishments and the Role of the United States,” The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 17, 2002, pp. 397, 405.
27 Yoree Koh, “DPJ Attends ‘Takeshima Day’ for the First Time,” Wall St. Journal Feb 24, 2011.
28 Japan News Today April 15, 2011, link; KBS World News, “Japan's unlawful territorial claim over the Dokdo islets,” April 1, 2011, Anguish at Japanese claims to Dokdo came on the heels of the announcement that South Koreans had contributed 23 billion won ($20.9 million), a record sum, in relief in the wake of the Northeast Earthquake.
29 William Underwood summarizes the recent confluence of developments in Japan suggesting the possibility of a breakthrough at the highest levels concerning apology and compensation in a bid to move toward reconciliation. See his NBR Japan Forum post of June 13, 2009 on “Aso POWs, Lafarge, and the DPJ on WWII redress,” link; see also Kazuhiko Togo's comments on the issues; Ivy Lee and Jian Kang debate appropriate resolution of the issues: Ivy Lee with an Introduction by William Underwood, “Toward Reconciliation: The Nishimatsu Settlements for Chinese Forced Labor in World War Two,”; Jian Kang, “Rejected by All Plaintiffs: Failure of the Nishimatsu-Shinanogawa “Settlement “with Chinese Forced Laborers in Wartime Japan.”
30 Lee and Van Dyke, op.cit.
31 See, for example, Reinhard Drifte, Territorial Conflicts in the East China Sea – From Missed Opportunities to Negotiation Stalemate, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 22-3-09, June 1, 2009; “Trilateral Statement. Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America,” Washington D.C., Dec 9, 2010, link; The Korea Society/Shorenstein-APARC-Stanford paper, “New Beginnings” in the U.S.-ROK Alliance: Recommendations to the Obama Administration, March 2009, link; for a Chinese perspective on the changing security situation in Northeast Asia and beyond see Zhang Jie and Zhong Feiteng, “Caution the catchword for China,” China Daily, Dec 27, 2010. The authors are researchers at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies; Gavan McCormack, “Small Islands – Big Problem: Senkaku/Diaoyu and the Weight of History and Geography in China-Japan Relations,” The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 1 No 1, January 3, 2011; Tanaka Sakai, “Who Sank the South Korean Warship Cheonan? A New Stage in the US-Korean War and US-China Relations,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, 21-1-10, May 24, 2010; Seunghun Lee and J.J. Suh, “Rush to Judgment: Inconsistencies in South Korea's Cheonan Report,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, 28-1-10, July 12, 2010.
You have
Access
Open access