Outline of Takeshima Issue- Prohibition of Passage to Utsuryo Island

3. Prohibition of Passage to Utsuryo Island

(The so-called "Takeshima Ikken (the Affair of Takeshima)")

1. With permission of the Shogunate for passage to Utsuryo Island, the Ohya and Murakawa families in Yonago engaged in their monopolistic business activities without intervention from others for approximately 70 years.
2. When the Murakawa family traveled to Utsuryo Island in 1692, they encountered many Koreans engaging in fishing on the island. In the following year, the Ohya family also encountered many Korean people on the island and brought two of them, Ahn Yong-Bok and Pak Eo-Doon, back to Japan. In those days, the Korean royal dynasty prohibited its people from traveling to Utsuryo Island.
3. Receiving orders from the Shogunate, which had become aware of the situation, the feudal clan of Tsushima (which was the contact point with the Korean Government during the Edo Period) repatriated Ahn and Pak to Korea, and initiated negotiations with Korea requesting it to prohibit its people from traveling to Utsuryo Island. However, the negotiations did not reach agreement because of a conflict of opinion over the attribution of Utsuryo Island.
4. Notified of the failure of the negotiations by the Tsushima clan, the Shogunate decided to prohibit passage to Utsuryo Island in January 1696, respecting the friendship with Korea, and recognizing that no Japanese had settled on Utsuryo Island, that it was judged that the island was a territory of Korea in light of the distance from the Korean Peninsula, that it was not wise to ruin a good relationship with a neighboring country for the sake of a small useless island, and that it was sufficient to ban passage to Utsuryo Island because it had not been occupied by force. The Shogunate ordered the Tsushima clan to inform the Korean side of this decision.
   
   The series of the negotiations concerning the attribution of Utsuryo Island is generally known as the "Takeshima Ikken (The Affair of Takeshima)."
5. On the other hand, passage to Takeshima was not banned. This shows that Japan already recognized Takeshima as its territory at that time.

(Statement by Ahn Yong-Bok and Questions Raised)

1. After the Shogunate decided to prohibit passage to Utsuryo Island, Ahn Yong-Bok came once again to Japan. Following that, Ahn was repatriated to Korea again and interrogated by Korean officials for violating the prohibition of passage to Utsuryo Island. The statement made by Ahn at that time is cited by the ROK today as one of the foundations for its claim to the sovereignty over Takeshima.
2. According to documents held by the ROK side, Ahn Yong-Bok stated that while in Japan he received a written document from the Edo Shogunate acknowledging its recognition of Utsuryo Island and Takeshima as territories of Korea but the lord of Tsushima had seized the document. However, according to documents held by the Japan side, although there are records of Ahn Yong-Bok having visited Japan in 1693 and 1696, there are but no records indicating that such a written document, as claimed by the ROK side, was given to Ahn Yong-Bok.
3. Moreover, the documents held by the ROK side report that Ahn Yong-Bok stated during his visit to Japan in 1696 that he saw many Japanese on Utsuryo Island. However, his visit was after the Shogunate had decided to ban passage to Utsuryo Island, and neither the Ohya nor Murakawa family was traveling to the island at that time.
4. The descriptions on Ahn Yong-Bok in the documents held by the ROK side are based on the statements made during the interrogation upon his return to Korea after traveling overseas in violation of national prohibition. The statements have many inconsistencies with factual evidence, including those mentioned above but they have been cited by the ROK side as one of its foundations for sovereignty over Takeshima.