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  4. Document 805

File No. 895.52/14.

The American Consul General at Seoul to the Secretary of State.

No. 382.]
American Consulate General,
Seoul, November 2, 1912.

Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith a clipping from this morning’s edition of the semi-official “Seoul Press,” entitled “Suspension of Issue of Land Title Deeds,” in which it is stated that the issue of title deeds or land certificates will be unnecessary under present arrangements, “the ownership of land in Chosen being fully ensured by means of the registration by owners in the official land ledger,” and that “copies of the land ledger will, on application, be given to land owners, after the investigation work has been concluded.”

Article X of Korean Law No. 7, promulgated August 24, 1910, a translation of which was forwarded from this office through the [Page 647] American Embassy at Tokio under date of December 9, 1910,1 provides:

“The Government shall provide registers of lands and maps, record affairs concerning lands, and issue title deeds for lands.”

I have [etc.]

Geo. H. Scidmore.
[Inclosure.]

Suspension of Issue of Land Title Deeds.

It was originally planned to issue title deeds to ensure the possession of land to land owners in Chosen, on the conclusion of the investigation of land now being carried out by the Government-General. Subsequently, however, the Chosen Civil Law as well as the Law for Registration of Immovable Assets in Chosen was promulgated, and by virtue of these two laws the ownership of land in the peninsula has come to be fully ensured. In consequence it has now been considered that the issue of land certificates is unnecessary and the plan has been cancelled, the ownership of land in Chosen being fully ensured by means of the registration by owners in the official land ledger. Copies of the land ledger will on application be given to landowners, after the investigation work has been concluded.

  1. For. Rel. 1911, p. 328.↩