竹島問題の歴史

8.7.09

1945-1953 Map of Korea and Japan (USA)


This is the "Map of Korea and Japan" which was published by Military Sea Transportation Service, Department of Navy, USA. The map of Korea was made by Geographia map Co., INC in New York. The exact year of the publication is not clear but it may have been published during the years after the WWII (1945) until 1953 when the Military Demarcation Line was drawn. This map of Korea is almost similar to the map "Large Scale Map of Korea" by the same mapmaker that I already posted here; http://dokdo-or-takeshima.blogspot.com/2009/03/late-1940s-to-early-1950s-map-of-korea.html




The map shows Ulleungdo (as ULLUNG DO) but not Liancourt Rocks. [Click the left map to enlarge]






The flip side of it is a map of Japan made by the same mapmaker, Geographia Map Co. INC. There are islands in the Sea of Japan - Matsu Shima, Liancourt Rocks and Oki Shima. [Click the left map to enlarge]
They mistakenly depicted Ulleungdo (MatsuShima, Dagelet) as a Japan's island while they drew Ullun Do (Ulleungdo) as a Korean island in the map other side. There seems to have been a confusion concerning Matsushima and Ullun Do because of turmoils after the war and wrong information from the pre-war era.




But anyway, it seems to have been a firm belief for the mapmaker (and USA Navy) that Liancourt Rocks didn't belong to Korea. The rocks had been usually depicted as Japan's territory in various western maps - at least they were drawn as being out of Korean territory because Korean eastern limit had been widely believed to be Ulleungdo.

It was Rhee Syngman who broke the international rule and took the rocks by force.

It was the beginning of the Takeshima/Dokdo dispute. The issue only happened in 1952, not in 1905 when Japan incorporated the island because in those days it was a common sense that Liancourt Rocks didn't belong to Korea.

2 comments:

  1. It does reinforces the fact that U.S. government did considered Liancourt Rocks outside of Korean territory and dropped it from SF Peace Treaty.

    Good job and lots of thanks, pacifist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comment, Kaneganese.

    I have another American map of Korea which was made just before the end of the war. It didn't include Liancourt Rocks (of course). I will post it soon.

    ReplyDelete

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