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
Korean nationalism Peninsula's division. As a result, Kelly says, South Koreans take out the anger rising from Korean division against Japan. This view is supported by another professor, Brian Reynolds Myers of Dongseo University. The Liancourt Rocks dispute has been ongoing since the end of World War II after the United States rejected Korea's claim to give sovereignty of the Liancourt Rocks islands, known as Dokdo or Tokto (독도/獨島, literally "solitary island") in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, to Korea in the 1951. Since 1954, the South Koreans have administered the islands but bickering on both sides involving nationalism and lingering historical