There is a country which acts recklessly, turning away its face from the historical facts doggedly and insisting on its ownership of other’s property.

It is Japan, a criminal state which started the war of aggression on the Asian continent and inflicted immeasurable misfortune and sufferings on humanity in the past century. And what it claims is not a simple thing but territorial resources belonging to national sovereignty.

There are small islets called Tok, which were formed by volcanic action at the eastern end of Korea. Japan argues that they belong to its territory.

But the materials recently opened to the public revealed to the world once again the falsehood of its demand for dominion over Tok Islets.

Most recently, the fact that Tok Islets were marked as part of Korean territory in 245 old maps drawn in many countries like Japan and the US and in Europe between the 1600s and the 1900s has been opened to the public.

Referring to it, the media reported that the only fact that Ullung Island and Tok Islets were marked as part of Korean territory in the old maps of other countries which show the world situation at the time provides strong evidence to prove that Tok Islets are part of Korean territory.

From the historical point of view, Japan’s claim on Tok Islets is not valid.

The strongest evidence Japan presents is the “Shimane prefectural proclamation” which said the Japanese cabinet incorporated Tok Islets into Shimane Prefecture on February 22 1905.

However, several documents publicized in Japan say that at the time residents of the prefecture knew Ullung Island and Tok Islets were originally in the east sea of Korea, but the Japanese government railroaded the incorporation of Tok Islets to set up observation posts to be used in the Russo-Japanese war.

The two islands are also clearly marked as part of Korean territory on the map made by Hayashi Shihei, a Japanese geographer, in 1785. On the map the islands are marked in the same colour as the mainland of Korea with such words as “Korea’s”.

They are also marked as part of Korea on the “Japanese history map” and “new edition of Japanese history map” drawn by Japanese historian Katsumori during the period of Japanese military occupation of Korea, and as belonging to the mainland of Korea on the “table of map areas” compiled by the land survey department of the army staff of Japan in 1936.

As seen above, numerous are such materials and it has already been proved that Tok Islets are part of Korean territory. Japanese themselves admitted it and Japan is the first country which acknowledged the Korean dominion over Tok Islets internationally.

Despite the facts, Japan renamed Tok Islets Takeshima in Japanese style, set February 22 as the “Day of Takeshima” and holds absurd celebrations on the day every year. And in recent years it has described Tok Islets as “inherent part of Japanese territory” in the diplomatic blue paper it publishes every year.

It is a “compulsory piece” sung by Japan that Tok Islets are part of its territory and therefore it has to “retake” the “lost territory”.

Japan’s impudent insistence on its “dominion” over Tok Islets is aimed at spreading its argument and internationalizing it to spark a dispute over the islets and create conditions and find pretexts for the reinvasion of Korea.

Japan had better make a sincere apology for its past history of aggression for its future, instead of claiming its “dominion” over Tok Islets with groundless sophistry and getting on the nerves of the Korean nation who harbour long-standing grudges against it.