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Korean Government's Reaction

The Korean government became aware of the matter on March 23, 1906, one year after the event took place, when the lord of Okinoshima of Shimane prefecture and party called on magistrate Sim Hung-t'aek of Ullungdo during their inspection trip to Tokdo and told him that the island had become Japan's possession.

The date, March 28, 1906, is important. On September 5, 1905, the Portsmouth Treaty was signed ending the Russo-Japanese War, and on November 18, 1905, Japan used its troops in Seoul and forced the Korean government to sign a Protectorate Treaty which it had drafted. The whole proceeding was illegal withou the Emperor's sanction and seal and the royal court was surrounded by Japanese troops and therefore under duress.

The two essential points of the treaty are the transfer of full authority over foreign affairs to Japan and the appointment of a Japanese Resident-General under the Korean Emperor to supervise all aspects of Korean government operations. It thus reduced Korea to semi-colonial status.

The Korean ministry of Foreign Affairs was dismantled on January 17, 1906; the Resident-General's office opened in Seoul in February that year and took over the conduct of the foreign affairs of the Korean government. Then the lord of Okinoshima was sent to Ullungdo to inform, as if casually, the Korean county magistrate of the incorporation of Tokdo. Under these circumstances, Korea could not take any measures against the Japanese action on Tokdo.

Startled at the news, magistrate Sim Hung-t'aek reported the following day (March 29, 1906) to the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Governor of Kwangwondo that he had been apprised of the incorporation of Tokdo, which was under the jurisdiction of Korea, into the Japanese territory. In his report he uses the words "this county" to refer to Korea.

Upon receipt of the report the Minister of Home Affairs renounced the Japanese claim stating that "it is totally groundless for the Japanese to lay claim to Tokdo and I am shocked by the report." Having received the report the Ch'amjong taeshin of the Uijongbu (State Council) - the acting head of government then - issued Directive No. …¡ on April 29, 1906, wherein he denounced the Japanese claim as groundless and ordered a full inquiry into the matter.

Taehan maeil sinbo and Hwangsong sinmun, two major papers of the day, reported the Japanese action in full and protested vehemently against it. Also, Hwang Hyon (1855-1910), a well-known intellectual, bitterly criticized and protested against the Japanese invasion of Tokdo in his writings: Ohakimun (A Miscellany) and Maech'on yarok (Personal Accounts of Maech'on).

The Japanese government often indicates that the non-action of the Korean government when Tokdo was annexed demonstrates tacit acquiescence, but fails to take into account the fact that the Japanese Resident-General in Korea conducted foreign affairs and the Korean government had no diplomatic channel of its own to represent itself against the Japanese claim. It was five years prior to the Japanese annexation of the Empire of Korea that Tokdo fell prey to the Japanese machinations.