Dokdo: Get a Piece of the R.O.K.
Doug Andersen
Oak Canyon Junior High School, Utah
Doug Andersen has been teaching Geography in the public schools for 22 years. He
received a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education Social Science Teaching from
Brigham Young University with minors in Geography, History, and Anthropology. He
later received a Master’s degree from Utah State University in Geography focusing on
incorporating the concept of cultural landscapes in the high school geography
curriculum. He has taught World Geography, World History, United States History, and
Advanced Placement Human Geography. He has also coached and advised many
clubs and teams. Doug completed a two year assignment in the McKay School of
Education at Brigham Young University where he taught social science teaching
methods and supervised student teachers.
Doug loves to discover the world through travel and developed a special interest in
Asia after serving as a Christian missionary in the Philippines for two years. He currently
serves as the vice-president of the Utah Geographic Alliances. He has presented and
chaired many teacher workshops and institutes. He is the state coordinator for a
Community Mapping program that instructs teachers how to incorporate GIS/GPS
technology through service learning in community.
Dokdo: Get a Piece of the R.O.K.
Author: Doug Andersen
Abstract: Students use a variety of primary and secondary sources and online mapping tools to
investigate competing territorial claims to Dokdo Island, a collection of islets in the East Sea
(Sea of Japan) between South Korea and Japan. Students evaluate territorial claims of the two
countries by considering visibility, distance, history, occupancy, treaties, and toponyms. Students
will be able to use historical evidence to evaluate the competing territorial claims. The lesson is
also designed to help students understand why the tiny islets have such significance for South
Korea in context of historical geopolitical relationships between Korea and Japan and current
territorial issues regarding the Law of the Sea.
Grade Level: 9-12 (Especially Advanced Placement Human Geography)
Essential Questions: Who owns Dokdo? Why are there competing claims to small islets in the
East Sea? Who cares? Why care?
National Geography Standards (Geography for Life, Second Edition):
 Geography Standard 13: How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence
the division and control of Earth’s surface.
 Geography Standard 16: The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and
importance of resources.
 Geography Standard 17: How to apply geography to interpret the past.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards:
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of
primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the
information.
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.8: Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in
a text support the author's claims.
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.6 : Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same
historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information
presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in
order to address a question or solve a problem.
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.8: Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by
corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Objectives:
 Students will be able to use historical evidence to evaluate the competing territorial claims of
South Korea and Japan over Dokdo.
 Students will be able to explain how sovereignty over Dokdo/Takashima Islands affects the use
and development of resources in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) by South Korea and Japan.
Materials Needed:
 Computer with internet connection and projector
 Copies of Student Investigation sheets.
 Copies of documents or student access to computer with internet connection.
 Computer lab with access to internet for extension activity (using ArcGIS Online)
Anticipatory Set: If YouTube is available, show the first 58 seconds of “Piece of the Rock” by
Mothers Finest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF7Gs7ol2aY) Have students discuss what
they think it means to “get a piece of the rock” :
A millionaire lookin’ for another million dollars
A poor man lookin’ for one
A chainstore owner lookin’ for another store
A hungry man lookin’ for a bun
(Chorus)
Get it get it get it yeah
Get get get get get ooh get it get it get it
Get a piece of the rock
Explain that conflict over resources is not only expressed on the local scale, but has been a main
source of conflict between countries. Today you will investigate competing territorial claims of
some small islets between South Korea and Japan.
Background information:
Map Activity: Show students the location and relative size of Dokdo compared to your local
area. It is most effective if you can zoom into your school (especially if a sports field or track
shows on the map) to give students a sense of scale. Mapfrappe is an online tool that lets you
create an area on one map and the tool overlays the area to scale on another map so you can
compare the size of the places. It takes a little work draw the outline of the area in question, but
once you have done it, you can save a URL of your map. An example of Dokdo has been
created for you:
1. Go to http://mapfrappe.com/?show=16675
This example shows Dokdo on the top map and a school on the bottom map. To change the
comparison map to the location of your school, type your location in the search bar on the
comparison map. Pan or zoom to your school. You can also change the map to satellite view
to see buildings or sports facilities more clearly. Once you have the view and comparison
you want, save the URL by clicking on “Make URL” at the bottom of the page under
“Permanent URL.” Make note of the URL to use in your lesson.
If you want to find Dokdo on Google Maps, type “Ulleung-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South
Korea” in the search bar. It will zoom in to Ulleungdo off the coast of South Korea. Follow
the shipping line to the east to Liancourt Rocks.
2. Zoom out on the top reference map to show the relative location of Dokdo between South
Korea and Japan. Ask student to brainstorm why the tiny islets would be of interest to Korea
or Japan.
3. Explain that South Korea and Japan have conflicting territorial claims to the small rocky islets
know in South Korea as Dokdo, to Japan as Takeshima, and on many maps in English as
Liancourt Rocks.
Activity 1: Territory Ownership Scorecard:
1. Ask students what they think determines whether a particular territory is owned by a country
or not. If they were to determine who owns the Liancourt Rocks between Japan and South
Korea, what kind of evidence or documentation would they want to prove territorial ownership?
2. Procedures:
Explain that they are going to investigate territorial ownership through 6 different lines of
evidence. The result of the investigation will be a “scorecard” for each country, where each
country earns a score for the relative importance of the evidence, the validity, and persuasiveness
of the sources/arguments. Lines of evidence are shown in a PowerPoint presentation, but slides
can be printed and handed out to students on paper.
For each line of evidence, students are to rank the indicator as to how important they think
the indicator is in determining territorial owner ship on a scale of 0-6. For example, if a student
felt that visibility from the mainland was the most important factor in determining ownership,
they would give it a 6. If they felt that it has no importance they would give it a 0. Students may
not use rank more than once. Students may have an initial idea of what indicators are most
important, but it is best that they do the ranking last so that they apply the ranking to this
situation only, and not territorial claims in general.
Students will also evaluate validity of the primary or secondary documents or artifacts used
and give the documents a “validity score.” The validity score is a multiplier factor of the claim
based on how valid students judge the evidence to be. The validity score is on a scale of 0-1.
For example if the students were using a photograph they feel was electronically altered they
could give the source a 0, which means the country would receive a zero score for the claim. If
they were using a secondary source, they may judge it’s validity as a .7 compared to a score of 1
for a valid primary sources.
Students evaluate the persuasiveness of the evidence with a “persuasiveness score” for each
country. The persuasiveness score is a multiplier factor of the claim based on how persuaded you
are by the countries claim to the territory based on the evidence. The persuasiveness score is on a
scale of 0-1. For example, if the evidence convinced a student that one country had a better
argument for ownership that the other, one country would receive a 1 and other would receive a
0. Persuasiveness scores may be any number from 0-1 including decimals.
The ranking score of the line of evidence is then multiplied by the validity score and
persuasiveness score to produce a final score in each category. For example, if a student ranked
occupancy as the second most important line of evidence in determining ownership, the student
would record a 5 in the Importance of indicator box for occupancy. The student learned from a
news article that the island has had permanent Korean occupancy since 1955. If the student felt
the article was valid, it would have a validity score of 1. The student also learned that Japan had
a fishing outpost in 1909 and determined the source to be valid. The student saw that both
countries had occupancy claims, but was more convinced by Japans earlier claim and gave Japan
a persuasive score of 1 and South Korea .75. The final score for Japan would be 5 points and
South Korea would be 3.75 points for occupancy.
Line of
Evidence
Sources
used
Validity of
argument or
source(0-1)
Persuasiveness Importance
of argument or of indicator
source (0-1)
(0-6)
Japan
(Score)
Toponyms
Visibility from
known
territory
Distance from
known
territory
Occupancy
History
Treaties
Total Score
Have students compare their scorecards with each other student and answer the summer
questions.
South
Korea
(Score)
Activity 2: Territorial Waters and the Law of the Sea
Students will compare how the Japanese claim to Takeshima would alter Japanese territorial
waters between Japan and Korea. (The activity can be done by students in a computer lab or as a
class demonstration)
Students will use a map prepared using ArcGIS Online to measure distances between known
Korean and Japanese territory. They will apply the Law of the Sea distances to see the change in
territorial waters if Japan has legitimate claims to Takeshima.
Background: The Law of the Sea
http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.htm
http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/closindx.htm
In 1973, the United Nations convened the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the
Sea to write a comprehensive treaty for the oceans. After nine years, the UN produced the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The key provisions of the
Convention included:
 12-mile territorial waters in which states are free to enforce any law, regulate any use and
exploit any resource.
 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) gives a state the right to right to exploit,
develop, manage and conserve all resources in the waters, on the ocean floor and in the
subsoil of an area extending 200 miles from its shore.
 When countries are closer than 24 nautical miles, a median line is drawn (Part II, Section
2, Article 16).
 When countries are closer than 400 nautical miles a boundary is drawn (Part V, Article
74)
 Islands must remain above the water during high tide and must be habitable by humans to
count as territory in the Law of the Sea. (Part VIII, Article 121)
South Korea ratified the Convention 29 Jan 1996 and Japan ratified the Convention on 20 Jun
1996.
Map Activity: Go to
http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=c928a42baf9146e9a79df4b066cf3a
2a to open a map using ArcGIS Online. The map has basic functions including pan and zoom.
Students will use the measuring tool to complete the Student Guide for Activity 2.
Assessment: Free Response Question
Some consider the sea to be Earth’s final frontier
A. Define a frontier boundary. Explain how the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea modified frontier boundaries of modern states.
B. Summarize both Japan and South Korea’s claim to Takeshima/Dokdo. Include 3 lines of
evidence each country may use to support their claim.
C. Using the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, explain why ownership to
Dokdo/Takeshima is in the national interest of both South Korea and Japan.