North Face under fire for printing 'Sea of Japan' on jacket

A netizen has posted a picture of U.S. outdoor apparel North Face’s “earth jacket” ― released in 2014 with a design resembling the globe ― that showed it had “the Sea of Japan” on it. / Courtesy of Twitter

By Lee Han-soo

U.S. outdoor apparel giant North Face has been criticized for printing “the Sea of Japan” on one of its jackets instead of “East Sea.” Korea and Japan are in dispute over the body of water’s name.

A netizen has posted a picture of the brand’s “earth jacket” ― released in 2014 with a design resembling the globe ― that showed it had “the Sea of Japan” on it.

“North Face’s earth jacket not only had a Japanese flag on it but also wrote Sea of Japan on the location of the East Sea,” the netizen posted, with a picture of the jacket, Saturday. “We should all boycott North Face.”

The post has gone viral and many netizens have vowed to back the boycott.

Youngone Outdoor, Korean distributor of North Face, said Monday the product has never been released in Korea. It said a separate contractor, Supreme, designed the jacket.

The distributor also said it will send a formal complaint to those responsible and exchange the jackets with products of similar price.