Rusk documents

Dean Rusk in 1968

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 Yang You Chan (양유찬, 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 states the negotiating position as:

• Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration didn't constitute a formal or final renunciation of sovereignty by Japan.
• The Japanese claim to the Liancourt Rocks would not be renounced in the peace treaty.
• The MacArthur line stands until the conclusion of the Treaty of San Francisco.
• Japan has no obligation to compensate for damage to private property owned by Koreans that was damaged in Japan during the war.
• Japanese property in Korea is pursuant to directives of United States Military Government.

Background

(Draft) Negotiating position that Liancourt Rocks shall be Japanese territory.

"The Rusk documents" by Dean Rusk, 1951

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

• December 29, 1949 (see Draft Treaty of Peace With Japan)

The Allied Powers prepared the Draft Treaty of Peace With Japan (Treaty of San Francisco).

It noted: "The Territory of Japan shall comprise the four principal Japanese islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido and all adjacent minor islands, including...Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks)"

• June 25, 1950 (see Korean war)

Beginning of Korean war

• July, 1951 (see Korean war)

Beginning of Korean war cease-fire talks (face hard going)

• Jury 19, 1951 (See Requests From Korea Jury 19, 1951)

Three demands of the above-mentioned were submitted to the draft by the South Korean ambassador Dr. You Chan Yang.

• August 2, 1951 (See Requests From Korea August 2, 1951)

The demands were submitted again by the South Korean ambassador.

• August 3, 1951 (See Memorandam from Mr. Fearey)

Korean Embassy answered that they believed Dokdo was near Ullengdo, or Takeshima Rock.

• 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.

• January 18, 1952 (see Syngman Rhee line)

The Syngman Rhee line was declared (beginning of Dokdo dispute)

• April 28, 1952 (see Treaty of San Francisco)

The treaty of peace with Japan (Treaty of San Francisco) was concluded (the independence of Korea)

• November 27, 1952(See Letter from American Embassy at Pusan Korea in 1952 December, Letter from Office of Northeast Asian Affairs in 1953 July)

The United States sent diplomatic letters to Korea that confirmed the rusk documents again.

• July 27, 1953 (see Korean war)

Agreement on an armistice (Korea didn't attend signing ceremony)

• 1954 "Report of Ambassador James Van Fleet"

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

Korean request

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

1. Provide that Japan "confirm 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."
2. The legal transfer of vested properties of Japanese in Korea to Korea and the United States Military Government in Korea.
3. Admit the continuation of the MacArthur Line in the Treaty of San Francisco.

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

Finality of restrictions on Japanese sovereignty

Korea had sought an amendment formalizing the date Japan had ceded control of Korea, including several disputed islands as Korean territory, at the point of Japanese acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, but this was rejected: "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."

Liancourt Rocks

Liancourt Rocks are territory of Japan: "As regards the island of Dokdo, otherwise known as Takeshima or 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 original document)

The treaty did not address Liancourt Rocks. Because Rusk rejected the South Korean request that Japan should renounce islands of Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo) and Parangdo (never clearly located, and possibly non-existent).

MacArthur line and Syngman Rhee line

The MacArthur line was to stand only until the conclusion of the Treaty of San Francisco: "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.

Compensation of the Korean property

Japan has no obligation to return the Korean-origin properties of persons in Japan: "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"

Japanese property in Korea

"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."

Parangdo(island)

South Korea claimed an island of uncertain location in 1951, along with Liancourt Rocks, Jeju and other islands.

Korean Ambassador Yang You Chan requested of the U.S. Secretary of State that Parangdo(파랑도, 波浪島) be included in the abandoned territory of Japan. After, U.S. Ambassador John Foster Dulls asked about where Parangdo and Liancourt Rocks were located and the First Secretary of the Korean embassy Pyo Wook Han replied that they were located in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) near Ulleungdo. Mr.Bogg had "tried all resources in Washington" he has been unable to identify Parangdo, South Korea had in the meantime withdrawn the claim to Parangdo.

After the Rusk documents

According to the internal report, the U.S. government took the position that "a series of U.S. measures regarding Liancourt Rocks should not be interpreted as saying that the islets' sovereignty lies with Japan" in the early 1950s. the State Department report at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The report, dated Aug. 26, 1954 (After the Rusk and Van Fleet document), is entitled "Conflicting Korean-Japanese Claims to Dokdo Island (otherwise known as Takeshima or Liancourt Rocks)." The State Department report first gives a detailed explanation on how Liancourt Rocks was excluded from the list of Korean territory that Japan was to return in Article 2 of the San Francisco treaty. It then points out that whether the accord implies a legal decision that Liancourt Rocks remains with Japan was still a question.

The 1945 Potsdam Declaration stated that "minor islands," along with Honshu and Hokkaido, remain under Japanese sovereignty. So the State Department pointed out that there could be a controversy on whether Japan has rights to all the islands that are not mentioned in the San Francisco treaty, which succeeds the Potsdam Declaration. It added that it was also controversial whether those who drafted the treaty intended to include those minor islands.

On this, the report points out that "it can be considered controversial whether the Rusk documents were based on enough historical understanding."

External links

"Rusk documents" on Wikisource.
Draft Treaty of Peace With Japan on Wikisource.
Diplomatic letters from ROK to US in 1951 on Wikisource.
Letter from Office of Northeast Asian Affairs To E. Allan Lightner American Embassy, Pusan Korea in 1952 November on Wikisource.
Letter from E. Allan Lightner American Embassy, Pusan Korea To Office of Northeast Asian Affairs, the Department of the State in 1952 December on Wikisource.
Letter from Office of Northeast Asian Affairs To E. Allan Lightner American Embassy, Pusan Korea in 1953 July on Wikisource.
Memorandum in regard to the Liancourt Rocks (Takeshima Island) controversy in 1953 November on Wikisource.
Report of Van Fleet mission on Wikisource.

• Catalogs of historical and literal material related to Takeshima/Dokdo issue (竹島／独島関係 史・資料目録), Yuji Fukuhara (The University of Shimane)
• PDF.file [1]