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Question

The IHO (International Hydrographic Organization) is scheduled to hold a general meeting in April. With regard to this, what is the issue disputed between the ROK and Japan?

Answer

If the ROK was in dispute with Japan last year over the issues of the distortion of history in the middle school textbooks with regard to 'comfort women' for the Japanese army and of sovereignty claims over Dokdo, both countries are likely to clash with each other again this spring over the issue of how the name of the East Sea area should be written in English, an agenda of the 18th General Meeting of the IHO (International Hydrographic Organization) scheduled to be held in Monaco from April 23 to 27. Before the general meeting, the Working Group reportedly submitted its final report to the IHO at the end of last month. Once completed, the submission of the Working Group's report is likely to signal the beginning of a full-scale diplomatic war between the ROK and Japan to reach the final conclusion of the written from of East Sea in English.

The IHO publishes a book titled『Limits of Oceans and Seas (S-23)』 which exerts a decisive influence on determining the international names of the seas. East Sea became known as Sea of Japan when the name Sea of Japan was used in the first edition of this book published in 1929 based on the claim of Japan, a founding nation of the IHO. Korea at that time had been deprived of its sovereignty by Japan. The most recent edition of Limits of Oceans and Seas (S-23) is the third edition published in 1953, in which Sea of Japan was still used as the exclusive written form in English. The ROK, which joined the IHO in 1957, started raising its voice in earnest over the issue of the name East Sea in 1991 when it was admitted to the U.N.
In August 1992, the ROK presented itself at the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (UNCSGN) and the IHO, where the ROK challenged the name Sea of Japan and claimed that 'East Sea' was the official name in English, and started promoting the simultaneous use of the names East Sea and Sea of Japan. The ROK's claim for the simultaneous use of both names was based on the fact that Korea had been calling this sea East Sea for 2,000 years and on the IHO Technical Resolution (1974): "If they (two or more countries sharing a given geographical feature under different names) have different official languages and cannot agree on a common name form, it is recommended that the name forms of each of the languages in question should be accepted." With regard to this, Japan's position was that this resolution applied to a geographical feature such as a bay, a strait, channel or archipelago, not to an open sea like East Sea. Since then, the ROK and Japan have been engaged in fierce diplomatic wars for about 20 years over the issue of how East Sea should be written in English in the revised 4th edition. In particular, with the upcoming 18th IHO general meeting, a dispute is being raised over the name and the naming of East Sea.

The ROK's claim is that the name 'East Sea' should be used because it is the name that has been in use for over 2,000 years. On the other hand, Japan's claim is that 'Sea of Japan' is the name that has been used internationally since the 19th century and it should continue to be used. The DPRK, while supporting the ROK's position, claims that the name 'East Sea of Korea' should be used. As the ROK and Japan remained as far apart as ever over this issue, the Chairman of the IHO has presented the compromise idea of technically incorporating the ROK's position by using both names in the footnotes or appendix while exclusively using the name Sea of Japan. But the ROK government disagrees.
Therefore, the final report of the IHO Working Group, considering that the naming issues had been traditionally decided by agreement between the member states concerned, is likely to only present the backgrounds and the positions of both countries side by side without making the final decision. If that is the case, the naming issue is likely to be put to vote in the IHO general meeting (approved if agreed to by a majority of all the member nations). This means that there is a prospect of a fierce diplomatic war between the ROK and Japan behind the scenes.
But as the practices of international diplomacy show, the decision of policy by vote could be potentially fatal to either country and to the reputation of the IHO. After all, it is possible that the upcoming IHO general meeting might avoid making the final decision on the simultaneous use of both names and putting it off for another 5 years until the next general meeting (2017).