대한(조선)해협의 명칭 변화 및 그 의미－일본 해군 수로부 간행의 수로지와 해도를 중심으로－

Abstract

The Korea Strait, the gateway to the East Sea, is a waterway where the vestiges of the joys and sorrows of life, the hopes and pains in history are fraught. It functioned as a route for migration, forced mobilization, war and invasion as well as a channel for cultural exchange. As history unfolded itself, the name ‘Joseon Strait’ disappeared and ‘Tsushima Strait’ replaced it. The author traces the change of name for the Korea Strait and the implication of that change by looking into the hydrographic pilots and charts published by the Japanese Navy Hydrographic Office, which was the official institution that knew the real state of affairs regarding the Korea Strait at the time. The Japanese Hydrographic Office designated the strait between Korea and Japan as the Joseon Strait without exception in all of its publications, such as Hwanyeoung Pilot, Korea Pilot, and Japan Pilot until 1899. But the name ‘Joseon Strait’ was replaced with ‘Tsushima Strait’ in the hydrographic pilot published in December 1904, just after Japan provoked the Russo－Japanese War. As Japan could not change the name of the strait arbitrarily, the Hydrographic Office adopted an expedient by appending ‘Korea Strait’ to the name ‘Tshushima Strait’. Even after the forced occupation of Korea, Japan could not discard the name ‘Joseon Strait’, which was widely accepted in the world. Thus the Hydrographic Office appended ‘Korea Strait’ to the name ‘Tshushima Strait’ and took the order of describing the Eastern Channel first and the Western Channel next. The Japanese Hydrographic Office used the names ‘Joseon Strait’, ‘Eastern Channel’ and ‘Western Channel’ and appended English spellings in all of itsnavy charts published before April 1904. But, as in the case of the hydrographic pilots, the Office replaced the name ‘Joseon Strait’ with ‘Tsushima Strait’, appending the English names of TSUSHIMA KAIKYŌ (KOREA STRAIT) in the navy charts published after April 1904. The appended English namesdisappeared gradually from the charts. The names for the Eastern Channel and the Western Channel were printed in Chinese characters or in Japanesepronunciations such as HIGASHI SUIDŌ and NISHI SUIDŌ. The systematic discard of the original names for the Korea Strait by the Japanese Hydrographic Office suggests that it was a prelude to Japan’s usurpation of Dokdo and forced occupation of Korea.