Rusk documents

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The Rusk documents (Rusk-Yang correspondence) are the official diplomatic correspondence sent by Dean Rusk, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, to You Chan Yang (梁裕燦), the South Korean ambassador to the U.S. The documents show the negotiating position of the U.S. State Department at the time.

The correspondence includes:

  • The Independence Day of Korea is not August 9, 1945 (Japanese acceptance of Potsdam declaration).
  • Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo/Takeshima) are Japanese territory.
  • The MacArthur line stands until Japan conclude Treaty of San Francisco
  • Japan has no obligation to return the private properties in Japan of Korean origin.
  • Japanese property in Korea is pursuant to directives of United States Military Government.
Dean rusk at the time of 1968
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Dean rusk at the time of 1968

Contents

[edit] Background

(Draft)It is clearly written Liancourt Rocks to be the territory in Japan.
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(Draft)It is clearly written Liancourt Rocks to be the territory in Japan.
"The Rusk documents" by Dean Rusk, 1951
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"The Rusk documents" by Dean Rusk, 1951

During the preparation of the Treaty of San Francisco, the following communications were exchanged for the benefits of South Korea, between the South Korean government and the U.S. Government at that time.

The Allied Powers prepared the Draft Treaty of Peace With Japan (Treaty of San Francisco).
It described Takeshima (Dokdo) was to be Japanese territory. (Chapter II Territorial Clauses,　Article 3)
Beginning of Korean war
Beginning of Korean war cease-fire talks (face hard going)
Three demands of the above-mentioned were submitted to the draft by the South Korean ambassador Dr. You Chan Yang.
The demands were submitted again by the South Korean ambassador.
  • August 10, 1951 The Rusk documents
The notification was sent by Dean Rusk to the South Korea ambassador as a final U.S. Government reply.
The Syngman Rhee line was declared (beginning of Dokdo dispute)
The treaty of peace with Japan (Treaty of San Francisco) was concluded (the independence of Korea)
Agreement on an armistice (Korea didn't attend signing ceremony)
Unilateral proclamation of sovereignty over the seas (Syngman Rhee line) is illegal
The United States had concluded Japanese sovereignty over the rocks
The dispute over the rocks might properly be referred to the International Court of Justice

[edit] Korean request

Three demands from the South Korean government to the U.S. government were as follows;

  1. Dokdo (Takeshima/Liancourt Rocks) are added to the abandoning territory in Japan and considered as Korean territory on August 9, 1945.
  2. The legal transfer of vested properties of Japanese in Korea to Korea.
  3. Admit the continuation of the MacArthur Line(*) in the Treaty of San Francisco.
(*)The MacArthur Line was a fishery operation district in Japan of which Douglas MacArthur issued as SCAPIN-1033 when he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP).

The U.S. Government accepted processing of the Japanese properties in Korea in the notification, however, didn't consent to the demands of the dominium of Takeshima and the MacArthur Line continuation. U.S. answered about the dispute over Takeshima (Dokdo) as follows,

"As regards the islands of Dokdo, otherwise known as Takeshima or Liancourt Rocks never treated as part of Korea and, since about 1905, has been under the jurisdiction of the Oki Islands Branch Office of Shimane Prefecture of Japan. The Island does not appear ever before to have been claimed by Korea."

[edit] Reply of the U.S. State Department (the Rusk documents)

[edit] The independence day of Korea

  • The independence day of Korea is not August 9, 1945 (Japanese acceptance of Potsdam declaration).
The Korean government requested“confirms that it renounced on August 9, 1945, all right, title and claim to Korea and the islands which were part of Korea prior to its annexation by Japan, including the island Quelpart, Port Hamilton, Dagelet, Dokdo and Parangdo."
However, Rusk replied "The United States Government does not feel that the Treaty should adopt the theory that Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on August 9, 1945 constituted a formal or final renunciation of sovereignty by Japan over the areas dealt with in the Declaration."

"Japan recognizing the independence of Korea~~" in Article 2 in the Treaty of San Francisco shows that the independence day of Korea is Japan concluding the Treaty of San Francisco (April 28, 1952).

[edit] Liancourt Rocks

  • Liancourt Rocks are territory of Japan.
Excerpt: "Liancourt Rocks, this normally uninhabited rock formation was according to our information never treated as part of Korea and, since about 1905, has been under the jurisdiction of the Oki Islands Branch Office of Shimane Prefecture of Japan. The island does not appear ever before to have been claimed by Korea."

The final treaty did not address Dokdo. Because Rusk rejected the South Korean request that Japan should renounce islands of Dokdo and Parangdo (an imaginary island) by as a consequence of the peace treaty [2].

The current position of the U.S. government on the dispute is "does not take a position".

"U.S. policy on the Dokdo/Takeshima Island issue has been and continues to be that the United States does not take a position on either Korea's claim or Japan's claim to the island. Our hope is that the two countries will resolve the issue amicably." (Joseph Yun, U.S. Embassy Political Minister-Counselor in Seoul comments on March 16, 2005)[3]

[edit] MacArthur line and Syngman Rhee line

Excerpt: "the so-called MacArthur line will stand until the treaty comes into force"

However, South Korean President Syngman Rhee disregard it and declared the Syngman Rhee line and the sovereignty over Dokdo on January 18, 1952, just before the Treaty of San Francisco came into force on April 28, 1952.

[edit] Compensation of the Korean property

  • Japan has no obligation to return the Korean-origin properties of persons in Japan
Excerpt "there would seem to be no necessity to oblige Japan to return the property of persons in Japan of Korean origin since such property was not sequestered or Otherwise interfered with by the Japanese Government during the war. In view of the fact that such persons had the status of Japanese"

[edit] Japanese property in Korea

  • Excerpt" Japan recognizes the validity of dispositions of property of Japan and Japanese nationals made by or pursuant to directives of United States Military Government in any of the areas referred to in Article 2 and 3."


[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ III. Korean Problems With Other Asian Nations. A. Japan. 1. Fisheries.
    • The position of the Republic of Korea Government has been to insist on the recognition of the so-called "Peace Line." The United States Government has consistently taken the position that the unilateral proclamation of sovereignty over the seas is illegal and that the fisheries dispute between Japan and Korea should be settled on the basis of a fisheries conservation agreement that would protect the interests of both countries.
    4. Ownership of Dokto Island.
    • When the Treaty of Peace with Japan was being drafted, the Republic of Korea asserted its claims to Dokto but the United States concluded that they remained under Japanese sovereignty and the Island was not included among the Islands that Japan released from its ownership under the Peace Treaty. The Republic of Korea has been confidentially informed of the United States position regarding the islands but our position has not been made public. Though the United States considers that the islands are Japanese territory, we have declined to interfere in the dispute. Our position has been that the dispute might properly be referred to the International Court of Justice and this suggestion has been informally conveyed to the Republic of Korea.[1]
  2. ^ On July 19, 1951, the South Korean government sent a document (signed in the name of You Chan Yang) that requested the U.S.-Britain joint draft of the Treaty of San Francisco to replace the word "renounces" in Paragraph a, Article Number 2, with "confirms that it renounced on August 9, 1945, all right, title and claim to Korea and the islands which were part of Korea prior to its annexation by Japan, including the island Quelpart, Port Hamilton, Dagelet, Dokdo and Parangdo." (1951) Foreign Relations of the United States vol. 6, 1206.
  3. ^ See U.S. Embassy Refutes Press Reports, Issued by the Embassy of the United States in Seoul, South Korea, March 16, 2005, last paragraph.
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