KOREAN NET

Hong Seong-geun, director of the Northeast Asian History Foundation's Dokdo Research Office, on July 7 explains the contents of materials at a ceremony for the donation of unreleased materials on Dokdo Island collected by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration at the foundation's Dokdo Museum Seoul at the shopping mall Times Square in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo-gu District. (Yonhap News)

By Kim Seon Ah

A declassified U.S. military document from 1948 that calls Dokdo Island "part of Korea" has been released to the public for the first time.

The Northeast Asian History Foundation in Seoul on July 7 said the document was part of 222 pages of unpublished records about Dokdo kept by the U.S. government.

The U.S. Far East Air Force (FEAF), which probed a bombing incident on Dokdo in 1948, said in a classified report, "...definitely established in September 1947 that Liancourt Rocks was a part of Korea." This means that soon after national liberation in 1945, American authorities clearly recognized Dokdo as Korean territory.

The incident occurred on June 8, 1948, when the U.S. Air Force conducted a live-fire bombing drill over the island, killing 14 fishermen working around there and injuring nine others. The tragedy has been attributed to the U.S. military's failure to notify Korean authorities in advance of the exercise, leaving the fishermen completely off guard.

Jeon Gab Seang, a professor at the Institute of East Asian Studies at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul, gathered the materials from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and donated them to the foundation. The collection includes investigation reports by American military authorities on the bombing incident and other related documents.

The foundation said the records hold historical importance in reflecting the U.S. military's perception of Dokdo at the time. This is in line with the stipulation of Dokdo as Korean territory in Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Instruction Note No. 677 and the U.S. draft of the Treaty of Peace with Japan from 1947-49.

Documents on Dokdo written in Korea soon after independence were also discovered. One was a copy of a 1946 document on confirmation of the island's affiliation with Ulleungdo Island sent by the Ulleung-do governor to his counterpart in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

On July 7, the main documents from the collection were shown to the public at a donation ceremony held at the foundation's Dokdo Museum Seoul inside the shopping mall Times Square in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo-gu District.

sofiakim218@korea.kr