일본 수로국 아마기함[天城艦]의 울릉도 최초 측량과 독도인식

Abstract

The warship Amagi , which belonged to the Japanese Hydrographic Office(JHO), surveyed “Takeshima”(竹島, Argonaut Island) and “Matsushima”(松島, Ulleungdo) in June 1878. This was the first Japanese official survey of Ulleungdo, and it confirmed that “Takeshima” was a fictitious island. This historical survey provides an important basis for understanding the falsehood of Japan’s claim on Dokdo, but it has not attracted appropriate attention until recently. This paper aims to reveal the meaning of the Amagi ’s first survey of Ulleungdo in 1878 based upon newly obtained data. Recognizing the importance of coastal surveys after the opening of ports in Korea, Japan inserted its right to survey the Korean coast into the Treaty of Amity between Korea and Japan in 1876(Treaty of Ganghwa). On the basis of this treaty, the JHO freely surveyed the entire Korean coastline. At that time, there was a debate in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the development of Matsushima. As a result, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Navy together dispatched the Amagi to determine a suitable place for an open port and to determine whether Matsushima existed or not. In June 1878, the Amagi surveyors concluded that Takeshima was the Argonaut Island that did not exist and that Matsushima was Ulleungdo, Korea. In its survey mission, the Amagi officers referred to The Complete Map of Korea published by the Japanese Army General Staff Office, British Admiralty Chart 2347(The Japan), East Coast of Korea(ВОСТОЧ НАГО БЕРЕГА ПОЛУОСТРОВА КОРЕИ) compiled by the Russian Admiralty, The China Sea Directory, and other texts. In these materials, not only Ulleungdo and Argonaut Island, but also Dokdo, were recorded accurately in nearly the same geographical positions. Therefore, the surveyors on the Amagi precisely recognized that Takeshima was a fictitious island and that Matsushima was Ulleungdo. TheA magi did not survey Dokdo, but the surveyors on board would have recognized its existence by referring to those materials. Ulleungdo(Dagelet Island) and Dokdo(Liancourt Rocks) were described as Korean territory while Oki Island was described as belonging to the western coast of Japan in The China Sea Directory. The Amagi officers thus would have realized that Ulleungdo and Dokdo were Korean territory. This principle of The China Sea Directory that considered Ulleungdo and Dokdo as Korean territory was maintained until 1904, and was also accepted by the JHO. The contents of The China Sea Directory were verified again in the survey of Ulleungdo by the Amagi in June 1880, and reiterated afterwards in almost all of the sea directories published by the JHO until March 1907. In conclusion, the first survey of Ulleungdo by the warship Amagi of the JHO and its recognition of Dokdo would have provided an important case for allowing the JHO and the Japanese government to recognize Ulleungdo and Dokdo as Korean territory.