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[je0ngj1w00]

ㅁAbout Dokdo

Have you heard about Dokdo, which is in the center of a big territorial dispute in Northeast Asia? Before I talk about the controversy about Dokdo, I will give some information about it. Firstly, Dokdo is consisted of two big islands and 89 annexed islands. As it is included in the route of migratory birds, and its natural value, Dokdo was named to ‘Dokdo natural resource conservation area (독도천연보호구역).’ Not only its natural value, it has been also recognized its economical and geological value. Because Dokdo locates where the cold sea of the north and warm sea of the south meets, the sea around Dokdo contains lots of plankton, squid, salmon, and cod. Also it has a future resource, Methane hydrate which is found under the island.

  Now I will talk about the controversy about Dokdo. Since the ‘Three kingdoms period(삼국 시대)’, Dokdo has been Korea’s territory. Lots of information proves Dokdo is historically our land. Especially ‘The Tottori-han’s Submission’ and ‘Conclusion of the Treaty of peace with Japan,’ which is a Japanese document that includes ‘Takeshima’ as not one of the Japanese’s lands. Recently, Japan is claiming that Dokdo is their land. In 1905, Japanese transferred Dokdo to Japanese territory without consulting. As a result, Korea couldn’t know what was going on and what they had to do. In 1906, the administrator of Ulleungdo, 심흥택 finally knew that Dokdo was taken away by Japan, but the Korean government couldn’t resist. In 1905, there was an unfair treaty that mentioned Korea’s diplomatic rights would be owned by Japanese. Of course Koreans did their best to take back Dokdo by writing articles in ‘Daehan Maeil Shinbo(대한매일신보).’ Finally, the Japanese surrendered, and admitted Korea’s independence including Dokdo and other islands. But they are claiming that Dokdo is not Korean land because there is no well-known rule about Dokdo is Korean territory.

 Looking at these documents, Dokdo is obviously Korea’s territory but I think Japan is still claiming because Koreans really don’t know Dokdo’s historical facts in detail. I heard that Japanese schools teach Dokdo Island in greater detail than Korea. In most of Korean schools, we learn that Dokdo is our land but we don’t really learn why Dokdo is our land and why we need to protect Dokdo. I realized the importance of learning the history of Dokdo. While writing this essay, I was embarrassed not knowing much about our history, and I wanted to know more and read more books about Dokdo. Especially I thought it was important to tell Japanese people a more accurate history then they may currently be taught, because the government is putting false information in history textbooks and most people are taught the wrong history. For the peace of our Earth including the Northeast Asia, we will have to work harder.  

#dokdo #korea