Even on UN Maps, the East Sea is Labeled as the Sea of Japan... Seogyeongdeok Strongly Protests "Violating International Principles Themselves"

On the 31st of last month, Professor Seokyung Deok from Sungshin Women's University strongly protested against the United Nations (UN) for exclusively labeling the Sea of Japan on his Facebook.
[Photo by Facebook capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Amid ongoing controversy over the naming of the East Sea and the Sea of Japan, Professor Seokyeongdeok of Sungshin Women's University strongly protested the UN's exclusive use of the Sea of Japan.

Professor Seo stated this on his Facebook on the 31st of last month, pointing out that the UN-operated site 'Geospatial' labels the East Sea solely as the Sea of Japan on its maps.

He also revealed that he sent protest emails to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the 193 UN member countries, excluding South Korea, urging them to correct this.

The email included English materials about the East Sea along with information from the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (UNCSGN) in 1977, which announced that "when it is difficult to agree on a single name for a geographical feature shared by two or more countries, the names used by each country should be listed together."

Through this, Professor Seo argued for the legitimacy of dual naming of the East Sea and emphasized that failure to do so would mean the UN itself is violating its established international principles.

He also added that many leading global media outlets and map publishers have already adopted dual naming of the East Sea. In fact, the state of Virginia in the United States has declared a joint naming bill, and the New York Department of Education has officially confirmed dual naming, according to Professor Seo.

Previously, controversy over the East Sea naming has been consistently raised. Recently, it was revealed that the Ukrainian government’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade website labeled the East Sea as the Sea of Japan. The Ukrainian education platform website showed the same. The map included in the 10th-grade geography curriculum for Japan labeled Dokdo as Takeshima and the East Sea as the Sea of Japan.

In April, a photo of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln entering the East Sea was posted on the homepage of the US Navy’s 7th Fleet under the Pacific Fleet, labeled as the Sea of Japan. On October 18 last year, the US Indo-Pacific Command, a higher unit of the Pacific Fleet, also referred to the Sea of Japan instead of the East Sea. At that time, the unit issued a statement saying, "Today, North Korea’s ballistic missile landed in the Sea of Japan," and "We are closely consulting with South Korea, Japan, and other regional allies."

In response, the South Korean government has continuously demanded correction of the Sea of Japan labeling. However, the US side has maintained distance, citing its 'single naming policy.' The single naming policy adopts a single name as the official standard geographical name used in US government publications, based on the widely used English name.

This ultimately means that the US perceives the East Sea naming as a 'minority view.' Previously, the White House rejected a petition from Korean Americans in 2018 requesting that both the Sea of Japan and East Sea be included on official US government documents and maps.