evidence: "[Koreans] are very protective of their culture and their race—they want to protect whatever they have," French photographer Tim Franco, who travelled to the islands this summer, tells National Geographic. "Dokdo is a good example of that. This is one thing that they kept back from World War II and it's very important to them to keep it." And while Japan also claims to have sovereignty over the rocks, which they call Takeshima (meaning "Bamboo Island"), it is only Koreans who make the pilgrimage, says Franco. [See inside North Korea’s retro soviet planes.] [...] The dispute is well-worn. According to South Korea, Dokdo was recognized by Japan as Korean territory in 1696 following an altercation between Japanese and Korean fishermen. But, in 1905, despite allegedly being under formal jurisdiction of Korea’s Uldo county, the islands were annexed by Japan ahead of its occupation of the peninsula, which lasted for 35 years up until 1945. According to Korea, the islands were "rightly" restored to them at the end of World War II. Japan disagrees.