An official 19th-century Japanese government map which marks the Dokdo islets as Korean territory has been discovered.
 
Professor Yuji Hosaka, head of Sejong University's Dokdo Research Institute, said Monday that he recently found a Japanese map from 1897 which specified that the islets are the territory of Korea's former Joseon Dynasty.
 
The map, issued by Japan's agriculture and commerce ministry, indicates the Korean Peninsula, Korea's Ulleung Island and Dokdo as Joseon territory. On the map, Dokdo is labeled using a Russian name rather than the Japanese name that Tokyo now uses for the islets. 
 
Japan's agriculture and commerce ministry was the precursor of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. It led Japan's forceful incorporation of Dokdo in 1905.