US Board on Geographic Names

By Yearn Hong Choi

Former U.S. President George Bush did one thing correctly during his eight-year reign of the White House. He put Dokdo back as Korean territory after the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) strangely listed the rocky islets as undesignated sovereignty ― from Korean territory.

Since then, the Dokdo issue has been quiet.

The BGN is not a significant organization at all to deserve presidential action. The Korean people should not be overly sensitive to the board, even though its decision could make a serious impact on the mapmakers of the world.

The Korean people are sensitive to the sovereignty issue because the Japanese government has often laid claim to it. The BGN may emerge again on the surface of the water of the East Sea in the future. I hope not.

In this column, I am going to explain the BGN's mission, organizational structure and membership for the readers of The Korea Times and for the Korean people. Not many Korean people know about the BGN. They should do if they wish to make any intelligent move in the future.

The board is a federal body created in 1890 to maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the U.S. government. This is the only function of the board!

The board comprises representatives of federal agencies concerned with geographic information, population, ecology and management of public lands.

Sharing its responsibilities with the secretary of the interior, the board promulgates official geographic feature names with locative attributes as well as principles, policies and procedures governing the use of domestic names, foreign names, Antarctic names and undersea feature names.

Until the end of World War II, the board dealt almost exclusively with U.S. place-names. However, it gradually expanded its interests to include foreign place-names and other areas of interest to the United States, a process that accelerated during WWII.

The usefulness of standardizing (not regulating) geographic names has been proven time and time again, and today more than 50 nations have some type of national names authority.

The United Nations stated that ``the best method to achieve international standardization is through strong programs of national standardization.'' Numerous nations established policies relevant to toponomy (the study of names) in their respective countries.

In this age of geographic information systems, the Internet, and homeland defense, geographic names data are even more important and more challenging. Applying the latest technology, the BGN continues to serve the federal government and the public as a central authority to which name problems, name inquiries, changes and new proposals can be directed.

Any person or organization, public or private, may make inquiries or request the board to render formal decisions on proposed new names, proposed changes, or names that are in conflict.

The Domestic Names Committee deals with all U.S. territorial place-names, beginning 12 nautical miles from the coastline and traveling inward, to include all terrestrial areas and territories, e.g., Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Guam, American Samoa, Fanning, Baker and Howland Islands, Navassa Reef, etc.

The database is held and maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey ― National Mapping Division, Reston Va.

The Foreign Names Committee deals with all international place-names, beginning 12 nautical miles from the U.S. (and U.S. territorial) coastlines and continuing seaward around the world. The database is held and maintained by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

For the present time, the category, "UU" (Undesignated Sovereignty) has been suspended for all entries. Dokdo (Tokto) has been returned to the South Korea database. There is no official notation about the sovereignty of Dokdo. However, the islets will be treated as, ``Occupied and administered by South Korea; claimed by Japan.''

I have produced a lengthy and detailed column here on the BGN for the Korean people's understanding of this invisible but potentially influential organization.

Educating American people on Dokdo and the East Sea is always necessary for the diplomatic position of Korea in the international society. Educating the members of the BGN on Korea's reasoning is quite important.

We don't need to pressure them. I hope this is useful information for the Korean government and people. The United States is sometimes a very close nation to them, but sometimes a nation very far from them geographically.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan has renewed its attack on South Korea's proposal to use a joint name, East Sea/Sea of Japan, on the sea between Japan and Korea, while disqualifying the Korean claim of the Oriental Sea and the Sea of Korea in old Western maps as the same name of the East Sea.

The Japanese government will never show its generosity to accept the joint name of the sea between the two nations. The Korean people should constantly educate geographers and mapmakers in the world on the history of East Asia. This is the best strategy to restore the East Sea and to protect Dokdo from possible Japanese invasion.

Dr. Choi is a retired political scientist after a long teaching career in the U.S. and Korea. He can be reached at yearnhchoi@gmail.com.