JEAIL > Volume 7(1); 2014 > Notes & Comments
Research Paper
Published online: May 30, 2014
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2014.7.1.07

Is the so-called 'Rusk Letter' be a Critical Evidence of Japan's Territorial Claim to Dokdo Island?

Yuji Hosaka
Sejong University, Korea.
313 Saenal-gwan, Sejong University Gunja-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 143-747 Korea.
Corresponding Author: hosaka@sejong.ac.kr

ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This paper provides detailed analysis of the so-called 'Rusk Letter' which has been generally referred to as an evidence of Japan's territorial claim to Dokdo island. The Rusk Letter is a diplomatic epistle which was drafted by Dean Rusk, the US Assistant Secretary of State and sent to the Korean Embassy in the US on August 10, 1951. This letter considers Dokdo as Japan's territory. However, the Rusk Letter has been legally and historically criticized from mainly two aspects. First, the Rusk Letter referred to the ownership of Dokdo only considering the Japanese position which was not true. Second, this letter was a confidential and unofficial document which was sent only to Korea; Japan and even the US Embassy to Korea did not know the Rusk Letter. It did not influence on the decision of Peace Treaty. Therefore, the Rusk Letter cannot be a critical evidence of Japan's territorial claim over Dokdo.

Keywords : Rusk Letter, Dokdo, Takeshima, Territorial Claim, Evidence, San Francisco Peace Treaty, Cairo Declaration, Potsdam Declaration, US draft, US-British Draft

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