Re: East Sea/Sea of Japan

The activities of the Korean Cultural Centre, the embassy of the Republic of Korea, Nigeria are run by the Korean Culture and Information Service, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea.

I am writing to you to make a suggestion about the information on Korea published in your newspaper.

I found that “Sea of Japan” was used in your International page 41 dated February 1, 2017 in reference to a body of water located between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago when it has long been referred to as “East Sea”.

It is true that Japan claims the use of the name “Sea of Japan” based on a decision from the conference of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) in Monaco, 1929 .

The Republic of Korea, however, has never agreed to this decision since it could not participate in the conference because of the Japanese colonial rule. As a result, the South Korean Government has been seeking to straighten out this issue since its independence.

In the 1970s, the IHO and the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (UNCSGN) adopted the resolution that both names should be accepted for publication in a situation where two or more countries cannot agree upon a common name form, which led to many well-known global media, publishers, and government offices use both the names concurrently.

Therefore, I would appreciate it if you can correct the name into “East Sea” or “East Sea/ Sea of Japan” as it seems more appropriate.

Thank you consideration.

Han Sung-Rae, Director, Korean Cultural Center, Nigeria. for your