While toying with her newly-acquired iPhone 4, Minh Ji-hyun, a 23-year-old collegian in Seoul, tried out its default map system. After browsing Ulleung Island, she went eastward to check the country’s easternmost territory of Dokdo.
She easily found it on the smartphone but to her surprise, there was no official name for it at all. Just the two main islets and dozens of other smaller rocks were dotted in white on the blue background.
“Dokdo is our territory where our people reside. Then, how come the map services do not identify its name? Does the iPhone regard Dokdo as the island of ghosts?” Minh said.
Situated some 90 kilometers east of Korea’s Ulleung Island and 160 kilometers northwest of Japan’s Oki Island, Dokdo is a set of volcanic outcrops, whose ownership has been disputed between Seoul and Tokyo over the past several decades.
Dokdo is currently under the strict control of Korea with the country’s police officers stationed there, but Japan has not stopped claiming sovereignty over the islets, which have rich fishery resources.
“I don’t know what Apple or KT think about. When you sell any product in a country, you have to care about local tastes. They should learn how sensitive Koreans are about the Dokdo issue,” Minh said. KT is the mobile operator selling the iPhone.
In fact, the map services on the iPhone are provided not by Apple but by Google, the world’s foremost Internet search engine that offers the Google Map applications for iPhone users.
This means that other smartphones available here including the Galaxy S from Samsung Electronics and Optimus Z from LG Electronics do not identify Dokdo either because both use Android, the mobile platform by Google.
When contacted, Google Korea said that the company makes it a rule not to identify any disputed territory claimed by multiple countries and this policy applies to Dokdo, known as Takeshima in Japan.
Many Koreans including members of the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) sent e-mails or letters to Google or Google Korea to protest the measure but to little avail.
“We asked Google to address the problem many times but the company just reiterated its policy of not identifying any disputed land. It is understandable for such a global outfit to adopt such a policy,” VANK founder Park Gi-tae said.
“However, I think we should continually protest. If we do not, Google or others will think that we are admitting Dokdo’s sovereignty is in dispute. We will continue to clog the inbox of Google with e-mails or letters.”
VANK is a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting a positive image of Korea, mainly by asking foreign Internet sites or agencies to correct false data on the country.
아이폰, 갤럭시S에서 독도 실종?
서울에 사는 대학생 민지현씨는 최근 구입한 아이폰4를 통해 지도 검색을 하다가 울릉도를 곁에 있는 독도를 찾아갔다. 민씨는 독도의 위치를 쉽게 찾을 수 있었지만 지명이 명기되어 있지 않아 놀라웠다.
민씨는 ``귀신이 사는 섬 같은 느낌이 들었어요. 지도에 아무 이름도 없다니. 엄연히 한국 사람들이 거주하고 있는 우리나라 섬인데 말이죠. 뭔가 문제가 있다고 생각했어요”라고 했다.
사실 문제는 아이폰을 통해 서비스되고 있는 구글맵이다. 구글은 영토분쟁의 소지가 있는 곳에 대해 2가지 지명이 경쟁하고 있을 경우 아예 지명을 표기 하지 않는 정책을 채택하고 있는 것으로 보인다.
그래서 구글의 모바일 운영체제인 안드로이드를 선택하고 있는 삼성전자의 갤럭시S나 엘지전자의 옵티머스Z 역시 독도의 이름을 찾아볼 수 없다.
한국 바로 알리기 운동을 하고 있는 VANK의 박기태 단장은 구글 측에 많은 항의를 했지만 구글은 자신의 정책상 어쩔 수 없다고 답했다고 한다. 그래도 박 단장은 앞으로 계속 항의를 할 계획이라고 한다. ``항의를 멈추는 순간 우리가 독도의 분쟁을 인정하는 셈이잖아요. 계속 메일을 보내야죠.”
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