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===South Korea's Argument=== ===South Korea's Argument===
The "Sea of Japan" was not named by the Japanese people, but Koreans contest this information and contend that Koreans argue the name ''Eastern Sea'' was predominant in pre-19th-century maps, and contend Japanese imperialism, compounded with their tendency to revise history and distort historical facts have given rise to the current appellation of ''Sea of Japan.'' In addition, they argue that the Sea of Japan was designated in pre-19th-century maps as "Sea of Corea" and "Oriental Sea". The "Sea of Japan" was not named by the Japanese people, but Koreans contest this information and contend that Koreans argue the name ''Eastern Sea'' was predominant in pre-19th-century maps, and contend Japanese imperialism, compounded with their tendency to revise history and distort historical facts have given rise to the current appellation of ''Sea of Japan.'' In addition, they argue that the Sea of Japan was designated in pre-19th-century maps as "Sea of Corea" and "Oriental Sea".

==Anti-Japanism==
South Koreans also claim that Japanese intentionally promoted Korea instead of Corea during colonial era, reason being that K comes after J.
The fact is Korea is English, Corea is Latin.
In the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Korean name was written as Corea.
The series of ] are based on Korea's Anti-Japanism.




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Others Others
* VANK finding target of mail flooding.
* VANK hangul


* ''BBC News'', August 16, 2002 * ''BBC News'', August 16, 2002
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Revision as of 14:30, 16 February 2003

Although it is generally accepted, the name Sea of Japan is disputed by North Korea and South Korea. South Koreans prefer the name East Sea for this body of water, while North Koreans ask for East Sea of Korea.

A formal request for review was made in 1992 at the 6th UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographic Names (UNCSGN). In 1997, the resulting UNCSGN resolution passed 111/20, and called on Korea and Japan to reach a consensus. The Japanese government has historically refused to cooperate on this issue, despite the resolution. Because the issue continues to be unresolved between the two countries, the United Nations body of International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB), has dropped the name Sea of Japan and leave the area blank. Of course it was withdrawn after Japan's objection.

VANK, a volunteer Korean cyber-organization, began an e-mail campaign to raise international awareness of the dispute.

Since the start of the Korean government's protest as well as VANK's email campaign, some international organizations have either adapted both names on maps, or leave the area blank until a consensus can be reached between Japan and Korea. The Koreans also call the Yellow Sea "West Sea". However Koreans have never claimed against China, since what is in dispute is Sea of Japan and many pre-19th-century maps call this sea Sea of Corea, clearly indicating the naming of this sea is in dispute (not the Yellow Sea).

Japan's Argument

Asians in general, have traditionally called surrounding seas with their respective directions: for Koreans in particular, they are: namhae (south sea), donghae (east sea) and seohae (west sea). They were vaguely used and their boundaries were ambiguous. It is uncertain when they first perceived donghae as the equivalent of Sea of Japan. At the end of the 20th century they translated Donghae into English and began to use "East Sea".

The equivocality "East Sea" has makes it almost impossible to become an international geographic name. Koreans assert that "East Sea" means east from the Asian Continent. What is located to the east of the Asian Continent is not only the Sea of Japan but also the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and these seas are called "East Sea" by Chinese and Vietnamese respectively.

In China, the East China Sea is referred to as "East Sea" (Dong Hai 東海). The name Dong Hai has already registered as "East China Sea (Tung Hai)" in The Limits of Oceans and Seas published by IHO. (Tung Hai is another romanization of Dong Hai).

The Vietnamese name for the South China Sea is Bien Dong (Biển Đông), which literally means East Sea. They also use "East Sea" in English.

Japan is a special case. Japanese used to vaguely call the Pacific Ocean as Tokai, whose meaning is East Sea, since it is located to the east of Japan, but it is no longer in use. Instead, Tokai indicates the Pacific coastal region. It is worth noting that for the Japanese people the word "East Sea" indicates the other side of the Sea of Japan. It is one of the reasons that Japanese strongly oppose the name of East Sea. Who does not get confused if both sides of a nation are called the same name!

An official name for a geographic feature is translated into each language. It is obvious that if the name "East Sea" become official, name collisions will occur in many languages.

The North Koreans demand "East Sea of Korea". What will happen if Madagascar renames the Indian Ocean to "East Ocean" , Australia proposes "West Ocean" and Pakistan asks for "Pakistani Ocean"? Should the international ogranizations approve them and rename it to "East/Indian/Pakistani/West Ocean"?

The "Sea of Japan" was not named by the Japanese people, but Koreans contest this information and contend that Japanese imperialism has given rise to this name. The Koreans insist that the Sea of Japan was called the East Sea on some pre-18th-century maps, but its apparently wrong. South Korea cannot find any map that shows the sea exactly as "East Sea". Korea could found only two maps, that show "The EASTERN or COREA SEA", both of which made by John Senex. It has no choice but counting "Sea of Korea" and "Oriental Sea" as "East Sea". What is worse is that some 19th-cetunry maps show "Eastern Sea" on the East China Sea.

It should be noted that Korea did not raise the issue until 1992, although South Korea joined the IHO (IHB) in 1957. Moreover it has described only "Japan Sea" on its own official nautical charts until 1993. In 1993 it first included both "Japan Sea" and "Tong Hae" (Tong Hae is an old romanization of Donghae). It is in 1995 that Korea first adopted "East Sea" on their charts.

South Korea's Argument

The "Sea of Japan" was not named by the Japanese people, but Koreans contest this information and contend that Koreans argue the name Eastern Sea was predominant in pre-19th-century maps, and contend Japanese imperialism, compounded with their tendency to revise history and distort historical facts have given rise to the current appellation of Sea of Japan. In addition, they argue that the Sea of Japan was designated in pre-19th-century maps as "Sea of Corea" and "Oriental Sea".


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