Talk:Parangdo

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[edit] Verifiability

Although it is clear that an island called Parangdo was claimed by South Korea in 1951, it is not clear that it was either a) imaginary, or b) supposed to be located anywhere near Ulleungdo. Can someone provide a source for these claims, please? -- Visviva 13:27, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

a)see Probatio diabolica.Korean ambassador (You Chan Yang) said that Parangdo is in the Sea of Japan near Ulleungdo generally.but the island is not found.It is called imaginary in usual.

b)It is recorded in FRUS [[1]].--Forestfarmer 15:42, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

b) Thanks! I was unable to locate that text in the Wikisource material; I guess maybe it is still under copyright. This is very interesting; I wonder what Han thought Parangdo was? It wouldn't make any sense to claim an island that he knew didn't exist... Looking over various stuff online, I get the idea that Ieodo and Parangdo were both used as names for a Korean fisherman's paradise in folktales, a la Fiddler's Green in the West. Maybe the name was informally attached to various rocks and shoals? Or maybe a fisherman told some visiting official "on a clear day, you can see Parangdo" and the visitor didn't realize it was a joke? There must be an interesting story in here somewhere...

a) Hmm... well, I do see your point. But I think that "imaginary" carries a rather strong connotation that the Koreans knew the island did not exist -- i.e., that it was fictitious rather than simply nonexistent. I would generally prefer the word "nonexistent" (and perhaps "mistakenly claimed") here as better meeting NPOV. Cheers, -- Visviva 01:19, 17 September 2006 (UTC)