Sea of Japan naming dispute

The neutrality of this article is disputed.

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The name of the marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bound by the Japanese islands of Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu and Sakhalin island on the east, and the Korean peninsula and Russia on the west is disputed. It is commonly referred as the Sea of Japan, but North and South Korea oppose this.

In Japanese the water is called Nihonkai (日本海); in Chinese Rìběnhǎi (日本海). The Russians call it Япо́нское мо́ре. All these translate into Sea of Japan. In South Korea the sea is called Donghae (동해; 東海) which translates into East Sea. The Korean government uses this expression in all their English publications. In North Korea the water is called Chosŏn Tonghae (조선동해; 朝鮮東海) which translates into East Sea of Korea.

Since the 1990s, the two Koreas have campaigned separately to change the sea's official international name. Neither the United Nations Conferences on Standardization of Geographical Names (UNCSGN) nor the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) have accepted so far their claims.

Some international and media organizations, however, have begun using the names Sea of Japan and East Sea together under pressure from South Korea. This might also be caused by a general trend to use local names, since this is often considered politically correct. 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.

This article describes the debate regarding the naming of the body of water and its historical background.

Summary of the dispute

South Korea and North Korea claim that the names "East Sea" (South) or "East Sea of Korea" (North) should be the international name solely or at least with "Sea of Japan.” They insist that the term Sea of Japan is a shadow of Japanese imperialistic ambitions. They also claim that the name "East Sea" has "historical precedents" and that it should be "restored."

Japan opposes these names and claims that the name "Sea of Japan" is the sole international name for the body of water. Japan insists that renaming or showing both simultaneously runs counter to the spirit of geographic standardization and will be a troubling precedent. For Korean claims, Japan argues that the term Sea of Japan was originally named by Westerners and became the de-facto standard before she gained commercial and political influence in the region. Japan also claims that the name "East Sea" cannot be an international geographic name because such a common name refers to various places including the neighbouring East China Sea.

There is currently no resolution to this debate acceptable to both countries.

History of the dispute

At a 1919 meeting of the International Hydrographic Bureau (later became the IHO) to settle upon internationally acceptable names of bodies of water, Japanese (and then colonial Korea) delegate submitted the name Sea of Japan as the official name of the sea. The name had already been the de facto standard.

In 1928, Limits of Oceans and Seas, the first edition of the guideline by the IHB adopted Japan Sea with many other geographic names.

South Korea contends that it has raised the issue since mid-1960s, but no campaign is known until the 1990s.

In 1992, South Korea raised the issue at the 6th UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographic Names (UNCSGN). Japan objected and the issue was not addressed.

In 1995, South Korea deleted Japan Sea from its official nautical charts. Before then, South Korea's nautical charts showed both Japan Sea and Tong Hae (the then used romanization of Donghae), out of respect for international conventions.

In 1997, South Korea raised the issue again at the 7th UNCSGN and Japan opposed. The issue was not addressed but the resolution III/20 (adopted by the 3rd UNCSGN in 1977) is recollected, which urges Japan and South Korea to reach a consensus. To date, however, both countries insist on compromise of each other and failed to reach a consensus.

In 2002, South Korea raised the issue again at the 8th UNCSGN. Japan objected again and the issue was not addressed.

In 2002, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) once distributes a circular letter asking vote for omitting pages containing the Sea of Japan from the fourth edition of Limits of Oceans and Seas. After Japan's objection, the IHO withdrew the letter.

A volunteer Korean cyber-organization (VANK), began a aggressive e-mail campaign. They target webmasters insisting that Sea of Japan is a shadow of the colonial period and thus its use on the site was inappropriate.

Some companies and media have responded to the dispute by either adapting both names on maps, or leave the area blank until a consensus can be reached between Japan and Korea.

In 2004, April 23, The United Nations affirmed the principle that it will continue using the name "Sea of Japan" in its official documents to refer to the body of water encircled by Japan, the Korean Peninsula and Russia, with the Japanese government in a written document.

Opinions

The dispute elicits many diversified opinions reflecting different views. Be warned that some of them can be based on erroneous perception and difficult to sustain.

There are people who argue that the name of a water has nothing to do with its ownership. Following this line of thought, the claims for renaming a water is pointless. Since the name Sea of Japan is established, some people think renaming is unnecessarily making things complicated. After all, there are efforts to standardize geographical names.

Some argue that the suggested name East Sea only makes sense to Koreans and is thus not suitable. Some Japanese argue that Sea of Japan is not Japan-centric since the Japanese traditionally name places/roads after the direction they lead to. Consequently, the name Sea of Korea would be more suitable.

Japanese imperialism is blamed for the insistence on Sea of Japan. This goes hand in hand with accusation, that the Japanese distort history to support their current view. This very argument is also applied to Koreans. It is argued that it was not the Japanese who named the Sea of Japan.

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) technical resolution A.4.2.6 (1974) is frequently referenced by this dispute, although it only gives general guidance. The resolution A.4.2.6 serves for IHO's own purpose.

It is recommended that where two or more countries share a given geographical feature (such as a bay, a strait, channel or archipelago) under different names, they should endeavour to reach agreement on a single name for the feature concerned. If they have different official languages and cannot agree on a common name form, it is recommended that the name forms of each of the languages in question should be accepted for charts and publications unless technical reasons prevent this practice on small scale charts. (Note: this quotation is not from the original text but a Korean web page [1]. It may not be a literal quotation.)

The United Nations Conferences on Standardization of Geographical Names (UNCSGN) resolution III/20 (1977) is also frequently referenced by this dispute. Only most careful readers would notice that the resolution III/20 applies to what is under the sovereignty of more than one country. Neither country has sovereignty over the high see.

The Conference, that the Resolution 25 of the Second United nations Conference of the Standardization of Geographical Names be reworded as follows.

The Conference, Considering the need for international standardization of names of geographical features that are under the sovereignty of more than one country or are divided among two or more countries,

1. Recommends that countries sharing a given geographical feature under different names should endeavour, as far as possible, to reach agreement on fixing a single name for the feature concerned;

2. Further recommends that when countries sharing a given geographical feature do not succeed in agreeing on a common name, it should be a general rule of international cartography that the name used by each of the countries concerned will be accepted. A policy of accepting only one or some of such names while excluding the rest would be inconsistent in principal as well as inexpedient in practice. Only technical reasons may sometimes make it necessary , especially in the case of small-scale maps, to dispense with the use of certain names belonging to one language or another.

Korean opinion and the counterargument of all the other nations

Koreans claim "historical precedent" to justify the name "East Sea." A study of a large collection of old maps in the British Library dating back to the 18th century revealed that out of 90 maps which gave a name to the sea between Korea and Japan, 72 referred to the sea as "Sea of Korea" or "East Sea"(almost "Sea of Korea", few "East Sea" maps. See Historical Maps below). Koreans argue that is from the early 18th century to the mid-19th century that "Sea of Korea" and "Sea of Japan" gained wide acceptance and became the names most frequently used by cartographers. It is worth noting that as late as 1870 even many Japanese maps referred to this body of water as the "Sea of Chosen (Choson)," literally referring to the "Sea of Korea" since Choson is the ancient name of Korea. In addition, "Oriental Sea" was also used to designate the "Sea of Japan" in pre-19th-century maps (see: [2], where the sea is variously labelled either in English as Oriental Sea or Sea of Korea, or in French or Latin in equivalent terms.

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Eastern Sea

Japan's surveys show that various names including Sea of Japan, Sea of Korea, Oriental Sea but that no term was dominant until Sea of Japan became the de facto standard in the early 19th century (see: [3]). They counter Korea's survey, as there is no old Western map that shows exactly East Sea. They claim that it is difficult to find any relativity of East Sea and Sea of Korea. Oriental Sea was sometimes shown on East China Sea or to the south of Japan on 17th and 18th century maps. This proves that, as the vague name suggests, Oriental Sea was not an established name. In addition, some 19th-century maps show Eastern Sea on the East China Sea.

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 sometimes Seohae (West Sea). They were vaguely used internationally 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. Koreans also sometimes call the Yellow Sea West Sea. The government uses Yellow Sea and thus have never made a claim against China. Japan criticizes this as double standard.

Some people claim that the equivocally East Sea has makes it almost impossible to become an international geographic name. Koreans assert that East Sea means east of the Asian Continent. This is countered because 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. All these waters are called East Sea their respective governments.

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 the IHO.

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.

The Baltic Sea is named ‘East Sea’ in some European languages: German Ostsee, Dutch Oostzee, Danish Østersøen, Swedish Östersjön, Norwegian Østersjøen.

Japan is a special case. The Japanese names Saikaido (literally: West-sea-route) and Tokaido (literally: East-sea-route) both refer to the Pacific coastal regions of Japan, west and east from Kyoto, respectively. Saikaido is now obsolete, but Tokaido is still in use. Tokai (東海) today indicates the coastal region around Nagoya and Shizuoka, in other words, on the other side of the Sea of Japan.

An official name for a geographic feature is sometimes translated into other languages. This could lead to more name collisions if East Sea became official. This is sometimes countered with reference to a general trend to use local names, such as Milano rather than Milan for the Italian city.

Historical Maps

According to the Korean government [4], 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

External links

• East Sea Map Study - by the Korean Overseas Information Service
• Sea of Japan - Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs defends the use of Sea of Japan.
• East Sea in World Maps - world maps displaying East Sea or similar names.
• Naming of "Japan Sea" - The Maritime Safety Agency of Japan introduces the justification of the Japan sea(Sea of Japan).
• East Sea or "Sea of Japan"? - www.korea.net provides a collection of articles to argue in favour of using East Sea.
• The Sea of Japan and Koreans - defends the use of Sea of Japan and states other places that could claim East Sea.
• Koreas unite against Japan BBC News, August 16, 2002 - outlines the dispute
• A sea by any other name Guardian, August 23, 2002 - outlines the dispute.
• New Trends in Identification of the East Sea - outlines trends in the naming of the sea from a Korean perspective.
• Eastsea.org - a collection of old maps of the area by a Korean professor.

See also

• Korean-Japanese disputes