User:Wikimachine/Liancourt Rocks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Liancourt Rocks are a group of islets in the Sea of Japan, administered by South Korea and claimed by Japan.[1] "Liancourt" was actually a name for a French whaling vessel - her crew named the islets after their ship.[2] The islets is also referred to in English as Hornet Rocks, Dokdo (독도, 獨島, "Lonely Islands") in Korean, and Takeshima (たけしま, 竹島, "Bamboo Islands") in Japanese.[2]
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Geography | |
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Location | Sea of Japan (East Sea) |
Coordinates | 37°14′30″N 131°52′0″E |
Administration | |
South Korea |
Since 1954, South Korea has physically controlled the essentially uninhabited island[3] with coast guards.[4] Initially, the islets were placed in September of 1945 by the U.S. occupation forces within the purview of the U.S. Sixth Army based in Japan, but the occupation boundaries were outdated in 1946[5] by the MacArthur Line, which placed Liancourt Rocks under oversight of the U.S. XXIV Corps assigned with all of South Korean territories.[6] However, the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, which dealt with the Japanese territorial issues, failed to include Liancourt Rocks, (recently the treaty was found to have designated the islets to South Korea) and paved way for Japan to dispute over the ambiguity.[5]
Today, South Korea registers the islets under the Ulleung County of the North Gyeongsang Province,[7]; the Korean Central News Agency of North Korea refers to the islets as the Tok Islet in its English-language articles, and its government supports the control of the islands by "the Korean nation".[8] In protest, Japan has registered the island under the town of Okinoshima of the Oki District in the Shimane Prefecture.[9]