Corean Pacific Islands

Corean Pacific Islands Territory
Today part of	Empire of Japan

The Corean Pacific Islands (대한태평양섬, Dêhan-têpjôngjang-sôm, before 1936 usually: 서광태평양섬, Sôgwang-têpjôngjang-sôm) were an insular dependent territory of the nation of Corea between 1888 and 1975, situated in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, southeast of Japan and east of Tauland. It encompassed the Bonin (Moein) Islands, Sulfur Islands and Namjo Island, all of which are presently administered by the Empire of Japan. Of these, only Gracht (Te-Moein) Island and Engel (Nam-Moein) Island were permanently populated by Corean settlers, while Gran Sufre (Te-Hwang) Island and Namjo Island housed perpetually staffed military installations.

Following their annexation from Spain during the early Gwang-an era, the islands were administered as the Crown Colony of the Moein Islands under direct rule of the Emperor, and were subject to directed settlement by Coreans, largely from Djedjoe island. Over the following decades, the strategically important islands were developed into military bases, with airstrips and refueling facilities constructed on Gracht, Gran Sufre and Namyo islands, and naval harbor installations built in Gracht Island's Sôman Bay.

Following Corea's defeat in the Russo-Corean War, during which the islands played a significant role as Corean and Dutch-Taulander naval and air bases, the 1936 Treaty of Hansjang placed the islands under Russian civil administration. In 1951, they returned to Corea and were reorganized as the Corean Pacific Islands Territory (대한태평양섬영토, Dêhan-têpjôngjang-sôm-jôngto), with Russian military presence on the islands continuing until 1974.

In 1975, Japan, which had laid claim to the islands during and after the Russo-Corean war, staged an invasion of the territory and captured it, with Corea being incapable of mounting a substantial defense in the wake of the Kemo nuclear disaster. Following the evacuation of the Japanese home islands after the Japanese Revolution, the islands, now generally known as Imperial Bonin, make up the entirety of the Empire of Japan's de facto territorial extent. Corea officially continues to claim the Pacific Islands as part of its territory, but the Corean state has not pursued any action to reoccupy them since the 1970s. In addition, they have been claimed by the Japanese National Republic since 1981.

History

Sôgwang Imperial colony (1888-1936)

The South Sea Expedition (1888)

During the First Sino-Corean War, the navy of Sjakwang Corea, which had been modernized at great cost following Dutch designs, found itself in few engagements with the drastically outmatched and antiquated Qing navy. In the months after the war, there was significant scepticism among the military elites over the necessity of further investments in the navy, with some army commanders and parliamentarians accusing Emperor Têdjo of granting preferential treatment to the navy due to his personal admiration of 16th-century naval commander I Soensjin.

In order to justify the investments, pacify the critics and demonstrate the advantages of a modern navy, naval secretary Soen Tsjang-Min (Soen Djôngmin) proposed an expedition into the Pacific Ocean with the purpose of claiming uninhabited Pacific islands for the Empire and potentially settling them as colonies. In this matter, Soen had likely been inspired by conversation with Russian naval commanders during the negotiations over Manchuria, from whom he learned in detail about Russia's in-progress colonization of the Pacific. The primary objective of these plans was a propagandistic demonstration of imperial power, but there were also economic incentives, primarily in the prospect of exploiting guano reserves to intensify Corean agriculture.

Following lengthy strategic talks, the Corean naval command decided that the optimal target for the expedition would be the Spanish Archbishop islands, as the communard revolution in Spain and unrest in the Philippine viceroyalty meant that Spain would be unlikely to field a military response over the remote and insignificant island group. At the time, the naval command believed that the Archbishop islands were uninhabited, likely based on a misinterpretation: Moein-do (無人島, lit. "uninhabited islands"), the name they carried on the Chinese-language Taulander maps that the Corean navy used at the time, was at some point taken literally, since the Spanish settlement of the islands was not otherwise well-known in Corea..

Japanese annexation and rule (1975-)

Main article: Imperial Bonin