Hello, I am Somin Kim, a member of Dokdo Cyber Press of South Korea.

While surfing the Internet, I got to find your website.

I first want to say your website is very informative and helpful. However, I found a naming error in your website, and would like to ask you to adjust it. 

Do you know a small island to the east of South Korea? This island, named Dokdo, has been Korea’s rightful territory for more than a thousand years. I would like explain why Dokdo is ours, not Japan’s.

In 512A.D, there were people living in Dokdo. Our ancestors who formed a country named Silla, conquered the people and occupied the land. Until the Russo-Japanese War, there wasn’t a big problem about which country has the sovereignty over Dokdo. Though the Japan shogunate tried several times to take it over, eventually we were able to save Dokdo. During the Russo-Japanese War(1904), Korea was losing control over her country. Japanese imperialism was taking our sovereignty away little by little. Japan found out how useful Dokdo is in terms of war, and stole it at their will. After World War 2, Korea became free of Japan and Japan had to return our territory back to our people. In the Treaty of San Francisco(1951), Japan admits Dokdo and Ulleungdo as Korea’s land.

50 years later, they are claiming Dokdo as their land. Their actions are distorting history. Korea’s citizens cannot stand that Japan, a country that aggressed upon us recently, are still ignoring our sovereignty. Also, their actions mean that they are not regretting their terrible brutality during the World War. People of Korea still The world, not only Korea, has to tell Japan to stop. One easy way is to use accurate names when we term lands and seas. Countries not concerned with the Dokdo argument are naming Dokdo as Liancourt Rocks. They claim that this term is the most neutral and fair name for the island. The term ‘Liancourt Rocks’ was first made in 1849, when a French whaling ship found Dokdo and thought it didn’t have an owner. Unfortunately for them, Dokdo has a rightful owner, Korea. Like I explained through the whole letter, Dokdo was ours since the 4^th century and our government is consistently making it clear. It means that the term ‘Liancourt Rocks’ is not neutral, but wrong. That’s why I’m asking you to adjust the wrong naming of Dokdo. Your website is shown to millions of people who are connected to the internet. If you correct your wrong naming, more people will know that Dokdo is Korea’s territory, not Japan’s, or any other countries. Dokdo should have a single name, Dokdo, only.

As I said, websites including yours are exposed to many people, and the influence is tremendous. Korean citizens including me earnestly ask you to change the wrong naming (Liancourt Rocks) to Dokdo. We look forward to your cooperation.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Best Regards,

Somin Kim