1883년 태정관의 울릉도 도항금지 전후 조·일 교섭과 울릉도 도항 일본인의 법적 처리

Abstract

This paper is to review the negotiation process between Korea and Japan before and after October 1883 when Japanese government repatriated the Japanese people staying on Ulleungdo. It also attempts to examine the legal actions taken by Japanese government against the their people who made passages to Ulleungdo. Since 1881, lumbering by Japanese people had been witnessed on Ulleungdo. When the Joseon government protested the illegal lumbering by Japanese people against the Japanese government, the Japanese government responded with the movement to enact a decree(‘fukoku’ in Japanese) banning their people from traveling to Ulleungdo. However, the draft of the decree ended as a draft and was never enacted as a law. Instead of promulgating a decree, Dajodaijin(Grand Minister) issued official instructions(‘yutatsu’ in Japanese) to the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Justice, directing them to ban Japanese travel to Ulleungdo and to take legal actions against those who illegally traveled to Ulleungdo. As the addressees of the yutatsu were administrative Ministries, in terms of regulative power upon people, it was weaker than fukoku whose addressees were the general public. When Japanese district courts which tried the cases could not find proper laws applicable to the Japanese travellers to Ulleungdo, they treated the travellers generously deciding acquittals or dismissing the cases. The measures taken by Japanese government had a fundamental limitation in the respect of the restraint on the people and did not eradicate the illegal passages of Japanese people to Ulleungdo. As the Koreans on Ulleungdo highly depended on the Japanese for food and daily necessities, so the symbiotic relationship between Koreans and Japanese continued for a while in the island. This situation continued to 1905 when Japan illegally incorporated Dokdo. Thereafter, Korea faced the illegal occupation of the whole peninsular by Japan.