Japanese disregarding `inconvenient truth` about Dokdo

A library of Takeshima, the name used by Japan to refer to Korea`s Dokdo islets, in the Japanese city of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, is located on the second floor of the No. 3 government building of Shimane.

Covering 33 square meters, the room has extensive documents on Dokdo, and even Korean documents such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty as well as those of Japan.

Japan`s official announcement No. 40 made Feb. 22, 1905, shows that Tokyo named the islets Takeshima and put it under Shimane Prefecture. The prefecture designated Feb. 22, 2005 as “Takeshima Day” and has celebrated it since 2006.

It is understandable how young Japanese students came to believe their government`s misguided argument after reading easy and detailed explanations with pictures. All documents support Tokyo`s claim to the islets yet a closer look shows a fallacy.

The entrance of the library has many documents made after 1905 that help Japan to claim its sovereignty over Dokdo. What is conspicuously missing, however, are documents from the Edo period (1603–1867) and the Meiji Restoration (1868) that say Dokdo belongs to Korea three times.

The library cites the 1951 San Francisco Treaty signed between Japan and 48 Allied countries as evidence because it returned Jeju and Geomun islands to Korea but not Dokdo. What was never mentioned, however, was that the U.S. issued an internal report that the U.S. action taken back then shall not be construed as Japan’s sovereignty over the islets.

Shimane Prefecture has collected historical documents in the library to manipulate the sovereignty dispute systematically. The library has spread the wrong message to students by distributing educational materials to schools. After Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited the Dokdo islets last week, certain Matsue residents repeatedly said their central government put Takeshima under the control of Shimane Prefecture in 1905, so it legally belongs to Japan.

Most of the residents, however, did not know that Japan began to attack the Korean Peninsula after it won the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. They did not try to believe that Korean historical documents including Annals of the Joseon Dynasty by King Sejong in 1454 evidently show Dokdo is Korean land.

When told that Japan’s official document, an order from Japan’s highest administrative body in 1877, even says the islets belong to Korea, the residents seemed surprised, with one saying, “Really?” This is because the Japanese have closed their eyes and ears to an inconvenient truth about Dokdo after learning distorted history. How pathetic.