U.S. Places Dokdo Under Undesignated Sovereignty

It was confirmed Saturday that the United States Board of Geographic Names (BGN) categorized “Liancourt Rocks,” which the country uses as the official name of Dokdo, the controversial islets between Korea and Japan, under "Undesignated Sovereignty."

If “Liancourt Rocks” is typed in foreign territories search in the BGN homepage (geonames.usgs.gov), it falls under the category of islands and is indicated as undesignated sovereignty, which means that it does not belong to any country.

“Liancourt Rocks” shows up as the standard name for Dokdo followed by eight variants. Among the variants, Japanese "Take Sima" comes in first and Korean name third as "Tok-to." In addition, the variants include "Hornet Islands" because of many hornets on the islets, and "Dokdo," a different English spelling of the Korean name referring to the islets.

The BGN homepage shows that it named the rocky islets “Liancourt Rocks” and designated under "Undesignated Sovereignty" as of 6:30 a.m., August 21, 1996.

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