Qualla: Liancourt Rocks

Liancourt Rocks: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In 1849, a French whaling ship called Le Liancourt nearly wrecked on a cluster of volcanic rocks jutting from the Sea of Japan, roughly midway between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The crew's close call gave the islets their international name. Korea calls them Dokdo. Japan calls them Takeshima. Both nations claim sovereignty, and South Korea backs its claim with a permanent police garrison, a lighthouse, a helicopter pad, and cellular towers. The rocks have only one civilian resident.

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Liancourt Rocks: Volcanic Fragments in Open Sea

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Liancourt Rocks are not an island in any conventional sense. They are the eroded remains of a volcanic formation that rose from the seafloor between 4.6 and 2.5 million years ago, now consisting of two main islets and roughly 90 surrounding rocks and reefs, of which 37 qualif...

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Liancourt Rocks: The Last Resident of Dokdo

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In March 1965, a fisherman named Choi Jong-duk moved from nearby Ulleungdo to the islets to harvest octopus. He changed his administrative address to the Liancourt Rocks in 1981, becoming the first person to officially reside there. Choi lived on the islets until his death in Sep...

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Liancourt Rocks: Whales, Petrels, and Spindle Trees

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Despite their barren appearance, the islets support a surprising diversity of life. Researchers have identified 49 plant species, 107 bird species, and 93 insect species on land, along with 160 algal and 368 invertebrate species in surrounding waters. The Liancourt Rocks were des...

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Liancourt Rocks: A Dispute Written in Maps and Memory

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The sovereignty dispute over the Liancourt Rocks is among the most emotionally charged territorial conflicts in East Asia. South Korea points to references to an island called Usando in medieval Korean records including the Samguk Sagi and the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, arguin...

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