"Dokdo Is Part of Korea"... U.S. Military Classified Document Released After 76 Years (Comprehensive)

Dokdo Bombing Incident Investigation Report Confirmed at NARA

A classified U.S. military document that explicitly designates Dokdo as Korean territory has been released after 76 years.

Document from the United States Far East Air Forces (FEAF). Yonhap News Agency

The Northeast Asian History Foundation announced on the 7th that it had discovered previously unreleased materials related to Dokdo at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The document is a "Report on the Dokdo Bombing Incident" prepared by the United States Far East Air Forces (FEAF) on June 24, 1948. The report clearly states, "It has been definitively established that Liancourt Rocks are a part of Korea." "Liancourt" refers to the French whaling ship that discovered Dokdo in 1849, and is used as a name for Dokdo.

This report, consisting of three pages of text and supplemental materials, deals with the bombing tragedy that occurred on June 8 of that same year. During a U.S. Air Force training bombing exercise, fourteen fishermen lost their lives and many others were injured on Dokdo. The document, previously classified, has been declassified and is currently designated as a Level 2 secret.

Hong Sunggeun, Director of the Dokdo Division at the Northeast Asian History Foundation, described it as "the final investigation report on the 1948 Dokdo bombing incident by the FEAF, which served as the final investigating authority." He added, "It is an official document showing that U.S. authorities in 1947 and 1948 recognized Dokdo as unmistakably Korean territory."

He also emphasized that this is a crucial piece of evidence to refute Japan’s claims. "Documents such as the 1949 Sebald Proposal and the 1951 Rusk Letter were merely temporary and distorted outcomes, and this can be objectively proven by this material," he said.

Records related to the bombing of a Dokdo fishing boat. Yonhap News

The report also includes a notification requirement: to use the bombing range, the Commander of U.S. Armed Forces in Korea (USAFIK) had to be notified fifteen days in advance. The foundation interprets this as evidence that the U.S. recognized Dokdo as Korean territory, hence the need for prior notification.

Other documents in the same file also support the historical context. One is an official letter sent by the head of Ulleungdo to the Gyeongsangbuk-do Governor in 1946, considered the earliest record referring to Dokdo after Korea’s liberation. It confirms Dokdo’s affiliation with Ulleungdo and requests that the Central Military Government negotiate with Japan and make this public. The document also notes that Dokdo is a production site for sea lions, seaweed, and abalone.

A handwritten copy of a report by Sim Heungtaek, the governor of Ulleung County during the Korean Empire period, also draws attention. This document, sent to Lee Myeongrae, acting governor of Gangwon-do, in the year after Japan’s illegal incorporation of Dokdo in 1905, informs him of the incident. Director Hong noted, "This is a handwritten copy predating the 1947 Ulleungdo office version by one year, newly discovered at NARA, making it especially significant."

On the 7th, Chung Yong-sang, Secretary General of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, presented a plaque of appreciation to Jeon Gap-saeng, Research Professor at Sungkonghoe University East Asia Institute, at the 'Donation Ceremony of Undisclosed Dokdo Materials Collected by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)' held at the Dokdo Experience Center of the Northeast Asian History Foundation in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The materials proving Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo were collected and donated to the foundation by Jeon Gap-saeng, Research Professor at the East Asia Research Institute at Sungkyunkwan University. A scholar who has been studying the period before and after the Korean War, he examined 1,060 boxes of U.S. military documents from 1948 to 1952 and discovered a 222-page document.

A foundation official expressed hope that this discovery will broaden the basis for confirming perceptions of Dokdo in both Korea and the United States immediately after liberation. The foundation plans to publish a research compendium and to exhibit these documents at a special exhibition at the Dokdo Experience Center in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.