By Kim Hyo-jin
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) restored Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in its World Factbook, ending a controversy over the sudden disappearance of the reference.
The CIA had referred to the Dokdo islets as "Liancourt Rocks" on the map of Korea in its annual publication. "Liancourt Rocks" was a neutral name that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) gave to the islets after Le Liancourt a French whaling vessel nearly collided with them in 1894.
It, however, slipped off the recently updated map of Korea while it remained on the map of Japan, leaving the impressions that the islets belong to Japan, and that the agency may back Tokyo's claims to the islets.
Some analysts argued that lobbying by Japan may have affected the change. Japan has channeled its efforts to name the islets "Takeshima" through the international community.
Amid a flurry of speculations, Seoul's foreign ministry announced Monday that it was seeking to rectify the matter.
"We found the removal at the end of December, and instantly delivered our stance to the CIA and the State Department over the naming of the Dokdo Islets," a director of the Territorial Maritime Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Korea Times.
Following its announcement, the name was restored on the map of Korea, Monday, U.S. local time.
"The CIA informed us that the deletion of the name was simply due to a technical error," said the ministry official, adding that the restoration was a result of the demand for rectification.
The CIA's World Factbook still refers to the water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan as the Sea of Japan, despite Seoul's demand for it to be called the East Sea.
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The CIA had referred to the Dokdo islets as "Liancourt Rocks" on the map of Korea in its annual publication. "Liancourt Rocks" was a neutral name that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) gave to the islets after Le Liancourt a French whaling vessel nearly collided with them in 1894.
It, however, slipped off the recently updated map of Korea while it remained on the map of Japan, leaving the impressions that the islets belong to Japan, and that the agency may back Tokyo's claims to the islets.
Some analysts argued that lobbying by Japan may have affected the change. Japan has channeled its efforts to name the islets "Takeshima" through the international community.
Amid a flurry of speculations, Seoul's foreign ministry announced Monday that it was seeking to rectify the matter.
"We found the removal at the end of December, and instantly delivered our stance to the CIA and the State Department over the naming of the Dokdo Islets," a director of the Territorial Maritime Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Korea Times.
Following its announcement, the name was restored on the map of Korea, Monday, U.S. local time.
"The CIA informed us that the deletion of the name was simply due to a technical error," said the ministry official, adding that the restoration was a result of the demand for rectification.
The CIA's World Factbook still refers to the water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan as the Sea of Japan, despite Seoul's demand for it to be called the East Sea.
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