Why is 독도 (written "竹島" in the map) depicted as a Japanese territory?
Some might say I'm bringing politics here, but the map itself is provoking strong political reactions.
Some might say I'm bringing politics here, but the map itself is provoking strong political reactions.
Edit: For anyone who isn't familiar with the dispute, no one lived in this series of islets until the late 20th century, when a Korean guy moved there. So there's no historical argument one way or the other.
South Korea argues that an island listed in a 1000yo historical record (Usando) is the present-day Liancourt Islands, but Japan says that record refers to a different island (Jukdo), and that South Korea has no historical claim over or tie to this series of islets. My personal feeling on this is that the document lists a few dozen people living there, and I don't think a few dozen people 1000 years ago could live on any of those islands. They're extremely tiny and the biggest one is just one big mountain. It's hardly "supporting 100 residents isolated from the mainland" terrain.
Japan's argument is that it controlled the islands, and the post-war treaty governing territory Japan was to surrender did not include Liancourt, so they still own it and that South Korea is illegally occupying it, going so far as to illegally attack the Japanese Coast Guard when it got too close to Liancourt.
If you look at a map, it's equidistant from both countries' mainlands (Japan is very slightly closer, and it has multiple small islands that are even closer, including one territory that sits almost between SK and Liancourt).
Japan's claim is that for centuries, they've exerted claim over this island specifically, pointing to historical records from the Tokugawa Shogunate. Then fin de siècle Japan reasserted authority over the islands to help it fight Russia and protect civilians on nearby Japanese islands (Oki is the one I remember the name of).
After WW2, there was a treaty where Japan surrendered territory. Early drafts of the document refer to Liancourt as Korean territory that Japan is to surrender, but the next few drafts referred to it as Japanese territory it was to surrender, and the final treaty completely excluded it. There's a US draft series and a UK draft series, and they aren't internally consistent, either.
Anyway, it's a huge mess that will never be resolved.
The dispute is significant because controlling the islets dictates fishing rights and surrounding maritime borders (EEZ) in resource-rich waters.