ABSTRACT
The Liancourt Rocks are a small island group known as Tak-do by South Korea and Takeshima by Japan. They are in several ways typical of many small islands worldwide that lie in the middle of large water bodies and have both strategic and economic importance. The Liancourt Rocks are located at the southern end of the Sea of Japan, almost equidistant from the two disputants, South Korea and Japan. Until 1952, the potential importance of isolated islets had not been considered, but then the dispute between South Korea and Japan began. In 1954, South Korea occupied the rocks and subsequently refused international arbitration. At present, the accent is on economic factors and ownership of the rocks would allow claims to some 16,600 nml of sea and seabed. In January 1998, Japan unilaterally terminated a bilateral fishing agreement with South Korea after attempts to update the agreement foundered on the islands dispute.
