evidence: Between Dokdo and Takeshima Lie the Liancourt Rocks: Explaining the U.S. Relationship to the South Korea-Japan Territorial Dispute The dispute over the Liancourt Rocks, referred to as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, remains a festering wound in the bilateral South Korea-Japan relationship. The United States, a steadfast treaty ally of both nations, stands to benefit massively from leveraging its influence between them to improve this state of affairs. Yet, instead of playing a leading public role in finding a solution to the conflict, the U.S. strictly avows and frequently reiterates that it takes no position on the sovereignty of the Liancourt Rocks. At first glance, this stance seems unintuitive given that the U.S. has sided with Japan in its disputes over the Northern Territories with Russia and the Senkaku Islands with China in addition to having articulated a position on other South Korea-Japan "history issues" like the Comfort Women controversy.