Newsletter

From March 7 to 8, 2012, "the 18th International Seminar on Sea Names: Asian and European Viewpoints" was held in Brussels, the capital of the Kingdom of Belgium. This event was hosted by the Northeast Asian History Foundation jointly with the Society for East Sea, the EU-Korea Institute and the Department of International and European Law of Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and sponsored by the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration under the Ministry of Land, Transportation & Marin Affairs, the Korea Foundation, and the Korean Culture and Information Service. One of the most important results of this seminar was to confirm the official decision for the use of both names East Sea and Sea of Japan in the textbooks and the teaching guidelines of Austria.

"The Use of Both Names East Sea/Sea of Japan is Consistent with the IHO Resolution"

Before the opening of the seminar, CHANG Dong-hee, Ambassador-at-large for Geographic Naming at NAHF, Republic of Korea, gave a welcome speech in which he emphasized that "the name East Sea has been used in Korea for 2,000 years already and the name is now in use by 75 million North and South Koreans together." By doing so, he stressed that the use of the single name Sea of Japan lacks objectivity, and the use of both names East Sea/Sea of Japan is consistent with the resolution adopted by the International Hydrographic Organization or the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN). Ambassador Chang's speech was followed by the presentation of Professor Isolde HAUSNER at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who said that "the cases of India and the European continent indicate that sea names are subject to political situations or international power balance", citing a good example where "North Sea used to be called 'Sea of Germany'" and another example where the Mediterranean connected to Africa, Asia, and Europe also used to be called "Our (Roman) Sea." By giving those examples, she indirectly criticized Japan for using the single name Sea of Japan for East Sea and emphasized that East Sea was the sea of Korea. And Brahim ATOUI, Vice Chair of the UNGEGEN, Algeria, gave a presentation to express the position of UNGEGN that "if the countries concerned failed to agree on the common name of a shared region, both names should be used" which is consistent with the IHO's resolution A4.2.6. Meanwhile, Paul WOODMAN, a former secretary of the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, the U.K., suggested the interesting idea of naming East Sea "East Sea/Sea of Resolution" because it is 'a sea with a problem that must be resolved." These assertions were taken to mean that the use of both names East Sea/Sea of Japan is becoming the issue of great interest in the international community. And David MUNRO, professor at Edinburgh University, U.K., linking the East Sea issue to environmental issues, shared his view that "given joint management and cooperation with Japan, the issue of the use of both names East Sea/Sea of Japan could be resolved naturally."

Part of Efforts to Make the Name East Sea the International Standard

The significance of this seminar lies in that it was held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and home to the European headquarters, as part of efforts to make the name 'East Sea' the international standard, with the upcoming 18th IHO general meeting scheduled to be held in Monaco on April 23, 2012. The participants included about 30 experts in international names from 10 countries: the U.K., Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Algeria, France, Poland, South Africa, and Vietnam. The NAHF will continue to exert efforts to make the name East Sea the international standard by working on various studies and building international networks for in-depth discussion at home and abroad.