Liancourt Rocks dispute Japan. In 1954, Japan proposed a reference to the International Court of Justice, which South Korea rejected, believing that the Liancourt Rocks are irrefutably South Korean territories, and thus should not be dealt through diplomatic negotiations or judicial settlement between South Korea and Japan. There are conflicting interpretations about the historical state of sovereignty over the islets. Korean claims are partly based on references to a Korean island called "Usan-do" in various historical records, maps and encyclopedias such as the "Samguk Sagi", "Annals of the Joseon Dynasty", "Dongguk Yeoji Seungnam" (), and "Dongguk munheon bigo" (). According to the Korean
Liancourt Rocks dispute This document from An's second trip relays An's words that Ulleungdo, geographically subordinate to Gangwon province, was administered by Dongnae-bu. The document records the distance between Takeshima (Ulleungdo) and Matsushima (Liancourt Rocks) as 50 ri, and also states, in a rough copy of An's map of Korea, that the two islets belonged to Korea's Gangwon province. In the "Annals of King Sukjong", the official governmental chronicle, An is reported to have stated that Jasan-do 子山島(sic) was what the Japanese called Matsu-shima 松島 at that time. In Feb 1697, the Korean government decided to reject Tsushima clan's request to amend a