File No. 895.00/529.
[Extract]
Tokyo, November 17, 1910.
Sir: Referring to your telegram of September 18 and to the ambassador’s despatch No. 1239, of October 14, and especially to my telegram of the 24th of October, I now have the honor again to point out the importance of closely watching any future changes or proposed changes in the ownership of land by foreigners in Korea.
One of the most disappointing and inadequate portions of the reply of the minister for foreign affairs made to Mr. O’Brien’s request for information (a copy of which was enclosed with the embassy’s No. 1239) was that touching land ownership. In the first place, there would seem to be an absolute contradiction between the statement of paragraph 1—“So far as immovable property is concerned, the rules and usages hitherto in operation in Korea are for the time being [Page 326] maintained”—and the further declaration in paragraph 2, where it is said that—
There are some rights and immunities enjoyed by foreigners in Japan proper which, in the nature of things, it is impossible, for the present at least, to extend to foreigners resident in Korea. The case of immovable property is an instance in point. It being impracticable at the present time to apply in Korea the Japanese laws relating to immovable property, the rights enjoyed by foreigners in Japan proper in the matter of the registration of real rights can not be extended to foreigners resident in Korea.
The rights “enjoyed” by foreigners in Japan proper are so much less liberal than those which they have hitherto had in Korea, that the latter statement of the minister certainly foreshadows extensive and irksome restrictions as to the right of Americans to own or to acquire land in Chosen. At the present time Americans hold a very considerable amount of land in various places throughout the peninsula, and this quantity would under normal conditions be rapidly increased by the ordinary healthy growth of various enterprises, especially those of a philanthropic and educational character under the control of American missionaries. I have been endeavoring, but without much success, to get statistics as to the exact amount of land owned by foreigners, especially Americans, in Korea. There is not much land held by Americans for business purposes, and mining concessions being in a class by themselves, subject to specific regulations, would probably be differently affected by any change in the present system of ownership.
At the present time, as the Department is aware, foreigners are not permitted as individuals to own land in Japan proper, although companies organized under Japanese law composed entirely of foreigners are allowed to do so. Land may be held by foreigners individually only in the following ways:
- 1.
- Perpetual leases in the old treaty ports.
- 2.
- Leases for 20 years, renewable for a like period.
- 3.
- Super fides, or leases for an unlimited number of years.
However, under the law passed by the Diet on March 24, 1910, which is to be enforced by imperial ordinance some time in 1911, foreigners, either as individuals or juridical persons, will be permitted with certain restrictions to own land in Japan proper, but not in Hokkaido, Formosa, and Saghalien. This right, however, is to be granted only on the reciprocal condition that Japanese subjects shall be given the right of land ownership in the country to which such foreigners belong. It has not yet been decided what countries shall enjoy this reciprocity, but the matter is now being studied, and the names of the favored countries will be announced in the imperial ordinance above referred to. Details of the regulations governing foreign land ownership in Japan will be found in this embassy’s despatches No. 535 of December 15, 1908, and 1062 and 1104 of February 28 and March 25, 1910.
For convenience of reference I enclose copies of the law of October 31, 1906,1 regarding land ownership in Korea, as furnished me by the consulate general at Seoul.
I have, etc.,
- Not printed.↩