Japan’s Illegal Incorporation of Dokdo
In the midst of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan declared Dokdo "ownerless land", named it Takeshima and quietly annexed it by a Shimane Prefecture notice. The Korean government regards this as an illegal incorporation.
Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source
Dokdo is historically, geographically and under international law an integral part of Korean territory. The geography section of the Sejong sillok lists Usan (Dokdo) and Mureung (Ulleungdo) as islands of Uljin in Gangwon, and after An Yong-bok’s protests the Tokugawa shogunate acknowledged Ulleungdo and Dokdo as Korean. In 1877 Japan’s own Grand Council of State instructed that "Ulleungdo and one other island (Dokdo) have nothing to do with Japan". In 1900 Imperial Decree No. 41 placed Seokdo (Dokdo) under Uldo County.
Wanting a lookout over the Russian fleet, Japan incorporated Dokdo by Shimane Prefecture Notice No. 40 on 22 February 1905, without informing Korea. When the Uldo magistrate Sim Heung-taek reported it the following year, the Korean government rejected the claim as groundless, but it had already lost control of its foreign affairs. The Korean government regards Dokdo as the first Korean land taken in Japan’s aggression against Korea, and the incorporation as illegal and void under international law.