Minister Ban made the remarks during the parliamentary inquiry of the National Assembly’s unification, foreign affairs and trade committees. He said that even though the convention is null and void, the issue over Gando would not be resolved -- he did not think that this position would create a new conflict in South Korean-Chinese relations.

Minister Ban’s remarks suggest that the government has decided to take the position that the Gando Convention is legally null and void, but that it will deal with sovereignty of the region from a non-legal standpoint.

The 1909 Gando Convention was a treaty in which Japan handed over the Gando region, which was virtually Korean territory, to China in return for certain privileges in Manchuria, including railway concessions. With the Eulsa Treaty, Japan deprived Korea of diplomatic rights in 1905.

The government distributed to lawmakers on Oct.5 parliamentary inspection materials stating that the convention was null and void. But the government soon took back the materials and redistributed new materials after deleting some contestable phrases. Minister Ban said Oct. 15 that the claim concerning the Gando Convention had been an administrative mistake.

(Lee Ha-won, may2@chosun.com )