Rusk documents

(Rusk-Yang correspondence) are the official diplomatic correspondence sent by Dean Rusk, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, to Yang You Chan (양유찬, 梁裕燦), the South Korean ambassador to the U.S. The documents show the negotiating position of the U.S. State Department at the time. [cite web
url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1951v06p1.p1221
title=Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Korean Affairs in the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs (Emmons)'"In the document cited in footnote 2 above, Mr. Rusk continued: "As regards the island of Dokdo . . . this normally uninhabited rock formation was according to our information never treated as part of Korea and, since about1905, has been under ,the jurisdiction of the Oki Islands Branch Office of Shimane Prefecture of Japan. The island do es nlot appear ever before to have been claimed by Korea."] [http://www1.pref.shimane.lg.jp/soumu/takesima_eng/take14.html] [http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/takeshima/treatment.html]

The correspondence states the negotiating position as:
*Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration didn't constitute a formal or final renunciation of sovereignty by Japan.
*The Japanese claim to the Liancourt Rocks would not be renounced in the peace treaty.
*The MacArthur line stands until the conclusion of the Treaty of San Francisco.
*Japan has no obligation to compensate for damage to private property owned by Koreans that was damaged in Japan during the war.
*Japanese property in Korea is pursuant to directives of United States Military Government.

Background

of the Treaty of San Francisco, the following communications were exchanged between the South Korean government and the U.S. Government at that time.

*December 29, 1949 (see ):The Allied Powers prepared the (Treaty of San Francisco). :It noted: "The Territory of Japan shall comprise the four principal Japanese islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido and all adjacent minor islands, including...Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks)"
*June 25, 1950 (see Korean war) :Beginning of Korean war
*July, 1951 (see Korean war):Beginning of Korean war cease-fire talks (face hard going)
*Jury 19, 1951 (See ):Three demands of the above-mentioned were submitted to the draft by the South Korean ambassador Dr. You Chan Yang.
*August 2, 1951 (See ):The demands were submitted again by the South Korean ambassador.
*August 3, 1951 (See ):Korean Embassy answered that they believed Dokdo was near Ullengdo, or Takeshima Rock.
*August 10, 1951 :The notification was sent by Dean Rusk to the South Korea ambassador as a final U.S. Government reply.
*January 18, 1952 (see Syngman Rhee line):The Syngman Rhee line was declared (beginning of Dokdo dispute)
*April 28, 1952 (see Treaty of San Francisco) :The treaty of peace with Japan (Treaty of San Francisco) was concluded (the independence of Korea)
*November 27, 1952(See , ):The United States sent diplomatic letters to Korea that confirmed the rusk documents again.
*July 27, 1953 (see Korean war):Agreement on an armistice (Korea didn't attend signing ceremony)
*1954 "Report of Ambassador James Van Fleet" [

"The position of the Republic of Korea Government has been to insist on the recognition of the so-called "Peace Line." The United States Government has consistently taken the position that the unilateral proclamation of sovereignty over the seas is illegal and that the fisheries dispute between Japan and Korea should be settled on the basis of a fisheries conservation agreement that would protect the interests of both countries."
"When the Treaty of Peace with Japan was being drafted, the Republic of Korea asserted its claims to Dokto but the United States concluded that they remained under Japanese sovereignty and the Island was not included among the Islands that Japan released from its ownership under the Peace Treaty. The Republic of Korea has been confidentially informed of the United States position regarding the islands but our position has not been made public. Though the United States considers that the islands are Japanese territory, we have declined to interfere in the dispute. Our position has been that the dispute might properly be referred to the International Court of Justice and this suggestion has been informally conveyed to the Republic of Korea." (Report of Van Fleet Mission to Far East)] [cite news | url=http://news.naver.com/hotissue/ranking_read.php?office_id=022&article_id=0000153824 | title=미국, 한국전직후 "독도는 일본땅" 일방결론 | author=한용걸 | publisher= | date=March, 27, 2006 | accessdate=2007-12-09] :Unilateral proclamation of sovereignty over the seas (Syngman Rhee line) is illegal:The United States had concluded Japanese sovereignty over the rocks :The dispute over the rocks might properly be referred to the International Court of Justice

Korean request

Three demands from the South Korean government to the U.S. government were as follows;
# Provide that Japan "confirm that it renounced on August 9, 1945, all right, title and claim to Korea and the islands which were part of Korea prior to its annexation by Japan," including Dokdo (Takeshima/Liancourt Rocks)
#The legal transfer of vested properties of Japanese in Korea to Korea.
#Admit the continuation of the MacArthur Line in the Treaty of San Francisco. [The MacArthur Line was a fishery operation district in Japan of which Douglas MacArthur issued as SCAPIN-1033 when he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP).]

=Finality of restrictions on Japanese sovereignty= Korea had sought an amendment formalizing the date Japan had ceded control of Korea, including several disputed islands as Korean territory, at the point of Japanese acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, but this was rejected: "The United States Government does not feel that the Treaty should adopt the theory that Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on August 9, 1945 constituted a formal or final renunciation of sovereignty by Japan over the areas dealt with in the Declaration."

Liancourt Rocks

Liancourt Rocks are territory of Japan: "As regards the island of Dokdo, otherwise known as Takeshima or Liancourt Rocks, this normally uninhabited rock formation was according to our information never treated as part of Korea and, since about 1905, has been under the jurisdiction of the Oki Islands Branch Office of Shimane Prefecture of Japan. The island does not appear ever before to have been claimed by Korea." ( [http://photoimg.enjoyjapan.naver.com/view/enjoybbs/viewphoto/phistory/66000/20060527114872653551440000.jpgThe original document] )

The treaty did not address Liancourt Rocks. Because Rusk rejected the South Korean request that Japan should renounce islands of Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo) and Parangdo (never clearly located, and possibly non-existent). [On July 19, 1951, the South Korean government sent a document (signed in the name of You Chan Yang) that requested the U.S.-Britain joint draft of the Treaty of San Francisco to replace the word "renounces" in Paragraph "a", Article Number 2, with "confirms that it renounced on August 9, 1945, all right, title and claim to Korea and the islands which were part of Korea prior to its annexation by Japan, including the island Quelpart, Port Hamilton, Dagelet, Dokdo and Parangdo." cite book| year = 1951 | title = Foreign Relations of the United States vol. 6| pages = 1206]

MacArthur line and Syngman Rhee line

The MacArthur line was to stand only until the conclusion of the Treaty of San Francisco: "the so-called MacArthur line will stand until the treaty comes into force."

However, South Korean President Syngman Rhee disregard it and declared the Syngman Rhee line and the sovereignty over Dokdo on January 18, 1952, just before the Treaty of San Francisco came into force on April 28, 1952.

Compensation of the Korean property

Japan has no obligation to return the Korean-origin properties of persons in Japan: "there would seem to be no necessity to oblige Japan to return the property of persons in Japan of Korean origin since such property was not sequestered or Otherwise interfered with by the Japanese Government during the war. In view of the fact that such persons had the status of Japanese"

Japanese property in Korea

"Japan recognizes the validity of dispositions of property of Japan and Japanese nationals made by or pursuant to directives of United States Military Government in any of the areas referred to in Article 2 and 3."

=Paragdo(island)=

South Korea claimed an island of uncertain location in 1951, along with Liancourt Rocks, Jeju and other islands.

Korean Ambassador Yang You Chan requested of the U.S. Secretary of State that Parangdo(파랑도, 波浪島) be included in the abandoned territory of Japan. [See .] After, U.S. Ambassador John Foster Dulls asked about where Parangdo and Liancourt Rocks were located and the First Secretary of the Korean embassy Pyo Wook Han replied that they were located in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) near Ulleungdo. South Korea had in the meantime withdrawn the claim to Parangdo. [cite web
url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1951v06p1.p1221
title=Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Korean Affairs in the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs (Emmons)'"(Korea had in the meantime withdrawn the claim to Parangdo.)"]

External links

ws| on "Wikisource"
ws| on "Wikisource"
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ws| on "Wikisource"

* [http://www.u-shimane.ac.jp/near/tksmtkd.htm Catalogs of historical and literal material related to Takeshima/Dokdo issue (竹島／独島関係 史・資料目録), Yuji Fukuhara (The University of Shimane)]
* PDF.file [http://captsato.net/photo/1951.pdf] 　

References