North Korea removes Dokdo from maps, may have dropped territorial claim

North Korea has removed Dokdo from maps and an e-book introducing its territory, raising questions about whether Pyongyang has quietly abandoned its long-standing claim to the islets.

According to Kyodo News on Sunday, a map and an e-book published by a North Korean publisher in October and December last year both omitted the southern half of the Korean Peninsula and Dokdo. Kyodo said it obtained and verified the materials directly.

North Korea had previously marked Dokdo on its maps as "Dokdo (Jo)" — with "(Jo)" standing for "Joseon" — designating the islets as North Korean territory. Pyongyang had long claimed Dokdo as "an island inherent to Korea," making the removal of that designation significant.

Isozaki Atsuhito, a professor at Keio University, told Kyodo that North Korea "may have abandoned its territorial claim." He said the change appears to stem from Pyongyang's constitutional revision defining its territory as only the northern half of the Korean Peninsula, which would effectively exclude Dokdo. Under that reading, North Korea removed the islets from its maps because it considers them to fall within South Korean territory.

North Korea in effect abandoned its policy of peaceful reunification with South Korea starting in late 2023, when Kim Jong-un redefined inter-Korean relations not as ties between the same people but as those between two "hostile states."

Some analysts say that if North Korea pursues diplomatic normalization with Japan, it cannot be entirely ruled out that Pyongyang might refer to Dokdo by the Japanese name "Takeshima."

South Korea has stationed a coast guard detachment on Dokdo since 1954, exercising effective control over the islets. The Japanese government has consistently protested this as an illegal occupation.

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