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The 20th International Seminar on Sea Names, co-organized by the Northeast Asian History Foundation and the Society for East Sea, was held in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Korea from the 26th to the 29th of October, 2014

The first seminar was held in 1994 for the purpose of spreading the discussion aimed at establishing the name East Sea as an international standard, and the NAHF has been involved as a co-organizer since 2007. Recent seminars over the past ten years have been held in major cities around the world. This year, celebrating its 20th anniversary, the seminar was held in the special location of Gyeongju, a city close to the East Sea. It was a magnificent and meaning event that invited about thirty experts in various fields from ten countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Russia, and Algeria.

The seminar included the presentation and active discussion of sixteen papers on the following topics: 'Place Naming, Social Justice, and Pedagogical Value'; 'Place Names as Cultural Heritage';'Historical and Linguistic Approaches to Place Naming'; 'International Law, International Relations, International Organizations and Place Naming'; and 'Perceptions of Naming Issues and Solutions.'

Place Names as the Products of Culture, History, Society, and Economy, and Social Justice

Professor Joseph Stoltman at Western Michigan University gave a presentation on 'Geography Education and the Place Naming Issue,' where he emphasized the importance of place names as a topic of geography education that would help students improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Social justice is the principle of addressing a certain issue by considering interests on equal terms, instead of reflecting the opinion of one side, and this is a community value that society should aspire to. Since place names are the products of the culture, history, society, and economy of locations and regions, he argued, there is a close correlation between social justice and geography education, and the East Sea/Sea of Japan naming issue can be an important topic in geography education in terms of social justice.

Choi Yeon-hong, a former Professor at the University of Seoul and a resident of the state of Virginia, stressed that the Virginia East Sea bill was a model case that realized the important value and goal of education. The important mission of education as viewed by the state and local governments of the U.S., he explained, is to cultivate justice, and the East Sea/Sea of Japan case is a good example that allows American students to learn about fairness as justice. Therefore, he noted, the Virginia East Sea bill will be an important stepping stone for the other states of the U.S. or the international community to move toward the concurrent use of the names East Sea/Sea of Japan.

"Consider the Strategy of Separating the Place Naming Issue from the Territorial Issue"

The participants in the seminar on October 29
visited Gyeongju and the East Sea afterwards.

Professor Alexis Dudden at the University of Connecticut gave a presentation on 'The Importance of History: The East Sea/Sea of Japan Naming Issue from the Perspective of Imperial Japan,' where she pointed out that Japan had made efforts to turn a sea incorporated into its territory into its inland sea, and that it was also in this context that the sea had been named. Since there is a tendency in Japan to view the movement to spread the name East Sea as an attempt to criticize Japan's past, she said, the effective resolution of the naming issue surrounding the East Sea requires the strategy of separating the place naming issue from the territorial issue. Rather than highlighting the past, she added, it is necessary to work together to find ways that will actually benefit the East Asian countries sharing the East Sea waters.

Northeast Asian History Foundation Research Fellow Yi Saangkyun presented the result of a study that examined how the name 'Sea of Japan' had spread from the mid-19th century onward and noted how the making of world maps had become active with the expansion of the influence of Japan's imperialism. An analysis of Eastern and Western maps made in the 17th through 20th centuries shows that detailed Eastern maps began to appear from the 18th century. According to Yi, the name 'Sea of Korea' was dominant on 18th-century Western maps, until the wide use of the name 'Sea of Japan' following its appearance in the journal of the voyage by the French explorer La Pérouse in 1787. He explained that Western powers used the name 'Sea of Japan' on maps starting from the 19th century.

Professor Joo, Seong Jae at Kyung Hee University gave a presentation on 'Naming of East Sea: Current Status and Challenges Ahead,' exploring the solutions to the naming issue. He proposed the following alternatives that might be agreed upon by Korea and Japan: 1) showing the two names together; 2) presenting a table of all the names in a single plan; and 3) classifying the names into international use and domestic use, and agreeing on a new name for international naming. He also suggested a 'human'-centered approach to the East Sea naming issue for its resolution. The sense of closeness that people feel toward the sea and its name and the effort to understand the value of place names as intangible cultural heritage could be a clue to resolving the conflict surrounding the sea name.

This seminar was exceptionally significant in that it broadened the scope of the discussion of the East Sea naming issue by examining the meaning and roles of place names from various perspectives: education, culture, social justice, and history, as well as geography. With many of the participating researchers from the U.S., and European and African countries being first-timers, it is also another achievement of this seminar that it served as an opportunity to add academic diversity and dynamics to the discussion of the place naming issue.