The word "Jiandao", literally "Middle Island", originally referred to a shoal in Tumen River between today's Chuankou Village, Kaishantun in Longjing, Jilin, China and Chongsŏng, Onsong County in North Korea.
[1] In the early 20th century, an expanding Japanese Empire argued that ethnic Koreans living in this area should be placed under its jurisdiction.
[2] The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of present-day Jilin Province covers roughly the same region as historical Jiandao.
Over the next nine to ten centuries the region was administered by the Liao (Khitans), Jin (Jurchens), Yuan (Mongols), Ming and then the Qing.
These governmental regulations, with the general marshy nature of the area, left these lands north of the Tumen River relatively undeveloped and the region was sparsely populated by Manchu tribes for a long time.
In 1901, Korean General Yi Hak-gyun, Diplomat Sands in Korea, and captain Payeur were sent to observe Jiandao.
[6] The French envoy, Victor Collin de Plancy, reported that Korean government would benefit by taxing Jiandao's inhabitants, and would increase jobs and influence by sending officials there.
[9] In 1904, the Japanese embassy in Korea reported the Korean government as claiming that there was no document that explicitly recorded Jiandao as part of the Qing territory.
The Japanese claimed that Jiandao included territory of four counties (Yanji, Wangqing, Helong and Hunchun) of Jilin Province.
[14] In December 1938, a counterinsurgency unit called the Gando Special Force was organized by the Japanese Kwantung Army to combat communist guerrillas within the region.
Historian Philip Jowett noted that during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Gando Special Force had "earned a reputation for brutality and was reported to have laid waste to large areas which came under its rule.
The claims by some of the Korean irredentists over Gando stem from what is perceived as an ambiguity in the original Sino-Korean boundary agreement.
After several attempts by the Kangxi Emperor to negotiate the issue, in 1712, the Joseon of Korea and Qing of China agreed to delineate the boundaries of the two countries at the Yalu and Tumen Rivers.
Pak Kwon was instructed by the Joseon government to retain all territory south of the Yalu and Tumen rivers, a goal he accomplished.
However, some Korean officials lamented the loss of claims on areas north of the river and criticized Pak Kwon for not accompanying Mukedeng to the summit.
In the 1870s the Qing government reversed its policy of prohibiting entry to Manchuria, and began allowing Han Chinese settlers into the territory in response to growing Russian encroachment.
It was apparent that despite the decreed punishment, severe droughts in northern Korea had motivated Korean farmers to seek new lands.
[16] The farmers, unwilling to abandon their homes, argued that because of the ambiguity in the naming of the Tumen river, they were actually already in Korean territory.
The official boundary agreement in 1712 identified the Tumen river using the characters 土門 (Tǔmen) for the phonetic transcription.
O Yunjung, a Korean official appointed to review the claims made by the farmers and investigate the sources of the river, adopted the latter interpretation and declared that the region did not belong to China.
Although there are occasional arguments over historical interpretation, this issue arouses very little emotion or official interest on the part of any of the parties, and relations between China and both Koreas remain warm.
The resultant controversy and strong negative reaction from the PRC led to a retraction of the statement, along with an explanation that its issuance was an "administrative error."
The following maps, made by Korea from the 18th century to the 19th century, show Sino-Korean borders to be aligned along the Yalu and Tumen Rivers, essentially the same as those today (between China and North Korea): However, there is an exception in the last map, as it shows the border visibly protruding north of the Tumen River.