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The body of water commonly referred as the Sea of Japan (Nipponkai (日本海)
in Japanese) is called the East Sea (Donghae (동해; 東海) in Korean) in South
Korea and the East Sea of Korea (Dongjoseonhae (동조선해; 東朝鮮海)) in North Korea.
Since the 1990s, the two Koreas have campaigned separately to change the
sea's official international name. In accordance with the 7th United Nations
Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (1998) and the
International Hydrographic Organization's Resolution A 4.2.6 (1974)
regarding the naming of disputed bodies of water, some international and
media organizations have begun using the names "Sea of Japan" and "East Sea"
together. These actions have prompted a backlash in Japan, and the issue
has not been resolved to the satisfaction of any of the three countries
involved.
Details of this issue were not widely reported in English-language
journals of broad readership during the 1990s, and have only begun to be
covered outside of East Asia in the last several years--often as the result
of announcements of changes in naming policy. Many people outside of the
region remain unaware of this highly charged issue, and continue to be
unaware of the Korean names for this body of water.
This article describes the debate regarding the naming of the body of
water and its historical background.
The body of water commonly referred as the Sea of Japan (Nipponkai (日本海)
in Japanese) is called the East Sea (Donghae (동해; 東海) in Korean) in South
Korea and the East Sea of Korea (Dongjoseonhae (동조선해; 東朝鮮海)) in North Korea.
Since the 1990s, the two Koreas have campaigned separately to change the
sea's official international name. In accordance with the 7th United Nations
Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (1998) and the
International Hydrographic Organization's Resolution A 4.2.6 (1974)
regarding the naming of disputed bodies of water, some international and
media organizations have begun using the names "Sea of Japan" and "East Sea"
together. These actions have prompted a backlash in Japan, and the issue
has not been resolved to the satisfaction of any of the three countries
involved.
Details of this issue were not widely reported in English-language
journals of broad readership during the 1990s, and have only begun to be
covered outside of East Asia in the last several years--often as the result
of announcements of changes in naming policy. Many people outside of the
region remain unaware of this highly charged issue, and continue to be
unaware of the Korean names for this body of water.
This article describes the debate regarding the naming of the body of
water and its historical background.
Summary of the dispute
South Koreans argue that the term Sea of Japan reflects Japanese
imperialistic ambitions and see it as part of a larger campaign of getting
Japan to own up to historical abuses foisted on Korea in the years before
World War Two. They also claim that East Sea is the body's original name as
used by European explorers.
Japan argues that the term Sea of Japan was originally named by
Westerners and became the de-facto standard before she gained political
influence. On the other hand, Koreans claim that variants of East Sea and
Sea of Korea were widely used in early western maps. There is currently no
resolution to this debate acceptable to both countries.
History of the dispute
Korea raised the issue 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 discuss this
issue.
Because the issue continues to be unresolved between the two countries,
International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), once planned to drop the name
Sea of Japan and left the area blank, but withdrawn after Japan's objection.
VANK, a volunteer Korean cyber-organization, began a aggressive e-mail
campaign. They repeatedly sent e-mail until webmasters swallow VANK's
demands. Their position is:
"Using a proper name for the body of water between the Korean peninsula
and the Japanese archipelago is not simply a question of changing the name
of a geographical feature.
It is rather a part of national effort by the Korean people to erase the
legacy of their colonial past and to redress the unfairness that has
resulted from it."
Since the start of the Korean government's protest as well as VANK's
email campaign, some companies 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 made a claim 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).
Recently, some international organizations which had revised their maps have
recovered the name.
Japan's Argument
Asians in general have traditionally named 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 donghae was first
perceived as the equivalent of Sea of Japan. At the end of the 20th century
Donghae was translated into English and the use of "East Sea" began.
The equivocally "East Sea" has made it almost impossible to become an
international geographic name. Koreans assert that "East Sea" means east of
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 "Dong Hai" (東海, pinyin
dong1 hai3; Wade-Giles Tung Hai), literally meaning "East Sea". The name
Dong Hai has already been registered as "East China Sea" in The Limits of
Oceans and Seas published by IHO.
The Vietnamese name for the South China Sea is Bien Dong, which literally
means East Sea. They also use "East Sea" in English.
Japan is a special case. Japanese used to vaguely refer to 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 (東海) today indicates
the Pacific coastal region of Japan. It is worth noting that for the
Japanese people the word for "East Sea" indicates the other side of the Sea
of Japan. It is one of the reasons that Japanese strongly oppose the name
"East Sea." Confusion is an obvious result if both sides of a nation are
called by the same name. But in fact however it is not an uncommon
situation. In Japanese, the western region of Honshu is called Chugoku (中国),
which also means China.
An official name for a geographic feature is translated into each
language. It is obvious that if the name "East Sea" were to become official,
name collisions will occur in many languages. The North Koreans demand "East
Sea of Korea". This leads to several questions: 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 organizations 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. (See below under Korea's Argument.)
Although South Korea insists that it has raised the issue ever since the
mid-1960s, Korea showed "Japan Sea" on its own official nautical charts
until 1995, out of respect for international conventions. South Korea joined
the IHO in 1957 and first raised the issue internationally in 1992 at the
United Nations, having become a UN member state in 1991. The draft for the
fourth edition of The Limits of Oceans and Seas was completed without South
Korea's objection. In 1993 South Korea's nautical charts included both
"Japan Sea" and "Tong Hae" (Tong Hae is an old romanization of Donghae). It
was in 1995 that Korea first adopted "East Sea" and deleted "Japan Sea" on
their charts. In fact Korea had accepted "Japan Sea" until early 1990s.
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
or other similar terms was predominant in pre-19th-century maps, and contend
that 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." (See
http://www.korea.net/issue/eastsea/map_app1.asp, where the sea is variously
labeled either in English as "East," "Eastern," or "Oriental Sea" or "Sea of
Korea," or in French or Latin in equivalent terms. However, note that some
19th-century maps show "Eastern Sea" on the East China Sea, and some maps
label the East Sea/Sea of Japan as "Sea of China")
At a 1919 meeting of the International Hydrographic Union to settle upon
internationally acceptable names of bodies of water, Korea (at that time a
Japanese colony) was represented by a Japanese delegate, who submitted the
name "Sea of Japan" as the official name of the sea. (See
http://www.korea.net/kwnews/content/xNews.asp?Number=20021112003 .)
According to the Korean government [3], the following maps indicate that
Sea of Japan does not historically reflect how this area was named before
the 19th century. They are available for online viewing at the University of
Southern California's online archive.
Readers will also notice that the historical transliteration for 'Korea'
is consistently Corea in French, Italian and English, without exception.
- MAR CORIA in the Chart of Asia by Manuel Godinho in 1615
- MAR DI CORAI in the Map of East Asia by Sir Robert Dudley in 1647
- Ocean Oriental in the map of Philippe Briet in 1650
- MAR DE CORÉE in the Map of Japanese Islands by Jean Baptiste Traemier
in 1679
- MER ORIENTALE OU MER DE CORÉE in the Map of Indo-China by Guillaum de
L'isle, French geographer in 1705
- Sea of Corea in the Map of East Asia by John Green in 1747
- MER DE CORÉE in the Map of China published in France in 1748
- M. DE CORÉE in the Chart of Asia published in France in 1761
- MAR DI COREA in the Map of Asian Countries created with new methods by
Prof. Antonio Chata and supported by the Senate of Venice, Italy in 1777
- SEA OF COREA in the China section of a British Encyclopaedia in 1778
- Sea of Corea in the Map of Russia by Bowen in 1780
- MER DE CORÉE in the Map of Asia Dealing with Regions and Countries, in
the possession of Spanish National Library in Madrid, in 1785
- COREAN SEA in Asian Islands and Regions created in London, England in
1794
- GULF OF COREA in the map created by Samuel Dhun in London and
published by Laurie and Whittle in 1794
- MER DE CORÉE in the Atlas of Asia created by Dezauche, a French
geographer, in 1800
- MER DE CORÉE OU DU JAPON, (Sea of Korea marked with bigger typography)
in the Atlas of Asia by Dezauche in 1805
- COREAN SEA in Cook's Voyages published in London to mark Captain
Cook's exploratory route in 1808
- GULF OF COREA in Lizars' Chart of Asia published in London in 1833
- GULF OF COREA in Lizars' Chart of Asia published in London in 1840
- SEA OF COREA in General World Map created by Wyld, a Briton, in 1845
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