US official creates stir over naming East Sea

By Lee Tae-hoon

Staff reporter

Controversy has erupted again over the naming of the waters surrounding Korea, Russia and Japan, after a U.S. defense official used "Sea of Japan," instead of "East Sea," as he talked about a joint military exercise with Seoul.

Many Koreans angrily reacted to his "inconsiderate" remark and even went as far as to demand that Washington name the joint military drill as the "U.S.-Japan exercise" if the United States were to participate in the drill in what it claims to be the Sea of Japan.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Thursday that next week, foreign and defense ministers of the two countries will discuss and likely approve a proposed series of U.S.-ROK combined military exercises, including new naval and air exercises in both the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea.

But experts here point out that Morrell did nothing wrong as the "disputed" geographic name remains officially recognized as the Sea of Japan in Washington.

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Philip J. Crowley also described the zone as the Sea of Japan in a daily briefing on the same day as he told reporters about the "2+2" meeting of foreign and defense ministries from the two countries.

Park Gi-tae, who leads the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), told The Korea Times Friday that more than 95 percent of governments, including the United States, still label the area as the Sea of Japan, while only about 25 percent of non-governmental organizations name it otherwise.

VANK is a non-governmental organization spearheading an international campaign to change the name of the Sea of Japan to the East Sea.

"As far as I know, none of the G20 countries and the rest of the governments around the world have yet to name it the East Sea," he said. "Some Canadian government organizations and the website of the French presidential office used the East Sea, but they changed it to the Sea of Japan after only a month, most likely due to protests from the Japanese government."

Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade also acknowledged that the U.S. and many other states have been reluctant to officially name it as the East Sea due to diplomatic reasons and partly because the Sea of Japan has been more commonly used in the international community.

"Countries like China, the United States and Russia are still naming it as the Sea of Japan, but Korea has been discussing with many of the governments the use of East Sea in their maps, textbooks and media," an official said.

In 2007, Korea made a proposal to the Ninth Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names instituted by the United Nations over the issue.

The conference made no decision on the issue, urging the two neighboring countries to find a commonly accepted solution.

Korea claims that the adoption of the Sea of Japan around the world coincided with Japan's colonial rule of Korea (1910-45) and the international community should redress the unfairness that has resulted from it.

Meanwhile, Japan argues that the Sea of Japan is not a colonial heritage and was commonly adopted during the early 19th century when Japan was more exposed to the world than Korea.

When a geographic name is disputed, experts say, both names are entitled to be used internationally until a solution is determined.

미국정부 관리 '동해'대신 '일본해' 사용 논란

조프 모렐 미국 국방부 대변인이 14일 한미 연합훈련 관련 브리핑에서 동해를 '일본해'로 언급해 논란이 일고 있다.

일각에서는 이는 동맹국인 한국을 배려하지 못한 처사이며, '일본해'에서 실시되는 연합훈련은 한일 연합훈련이라고 불려야 된다고 비난했다.

이에 관련 전문가들은 미국 정부가 현재 '일본해'를 공식 지명으로 사용하고 있기 때문에 모렐 대변인의 발언은 크게 문제가 없다고 지적했다.

국가홍보 민간단체 반크의 박기태 단장은 코리아 타임즈와의 인터뷰에서 "현재 G20 국가중 동해를 공식 지명으로 지적한 국가는 한개도 없다"고 말했다.