[2] The treaty was proclaimed to the public (and became effective) on 29 August 1910, officially starting the period of Japanese rule in Korea.

The Japanese imperial government was preparing a scenario for a "merger petition" to Shigemaru Sugiyama, an advisor of the Iljinhoe.

In directing such a scenario, the Empire of Japan gradually decided that the period of “Annexation” was ripening, and promoted Shigemaru to make a “joining petition” using Lee Yong-gu and Song Byeong-jun.

[citation needed] This issue caused considerable difficulty in the negotiations for the establishment of basic diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea in 1965.

[citation needed] Anthony Carty, a professor at the University of Derby, stated, "During the height of the imperialism, it is difficult to find an international law sufficient to determine the legality/illegality of a particular treaty.

[8][10][page needed] According to Kan Kimura, a major result of this conference is that the Korean claim that the annexation was illegal was rejected by the participating Western scholars, as well as others specializing in international law.

[13] On 28 July 2010, around 1000 intellectuals in Korea and Japan issued a joint statement that the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty was never valid in the first place.