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 scholars argue that Matsushima (the closer island) refers to Liancourt Rocks and Takeshima (the farther island) refers to Ulleungdo. On the other hand Korean scholars argue that a closer look reveals the grants were given to permit them to travel abroad, thus proving that fishing area was foreign territory. These grants led to a conflict with native settlers in Ulleungdo and were later revoked by Kanpaku of Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate in January 1696. In 1695 the Shogunate inquired of the Tottori clan (Tottori Prefecture today) if Takeshima (Ulleungdo) and "Matsushima" (Liancourt Rocks) were part of either Inaba or Hōki Province,