Korean Job Discussion Forums

[just because]

Maybe you don't know what VANK is but it stands for Voluntary Network Agency Korea and its role is to correct ( or incorrect when it really is just is Korean nationalism being an arse) errounous information found on the net or in magazines,journals,etc about Korea...
They basically try to correct things about Dokdo/Takeshima, Sea of japan/East Sea, Goguryeo history in China and textbook innacuracies(mainly japanese)..

here is their website
www.prkorea.com/english

Anyway they have somehow managed Google to change the name on their Google Earth from sea of japan to East Sea which you can read about here http://english.chosun.com/w21data/h...0508210001.html

So the Japanese are bloody annoyed and are fighting back and it is starting to become one of the top stories in korea again......if google changes it back, which it probably will due to the fact that ALMOST EVERY other country in the world calls it sea of Japan then we could be in for another "i hate japan" session...

Here is YTN story on it for people who have Korean language skills...also the news video to go with it..
http://www.ytn.co.kr/spnews/spnews_...508221410568456

I really do think they should leave it as the Sea of japan..

My girlfriend was shocked when I told her the only country I know that calls it the east sea is Korea, every other major country calls it the Sea of japan, she wouldn't believe me, so i told her to look it up!!

She believes me now...she said she thought it was only japan so she learned that maybe Koreans are going a bit to far..

[animalbirdfish]

There's been a running debate over the Google change here on the Marmot's Hole.

I understand that there are historical reasons for wanting to change the name. It has, at various times in the past, been the East Sea and the Sea of Korea, but I don't see that either of those is any less offensive, as both simply pander to Korean nationalism. The sea is only directly east of Korea and is in fact west and south of Japan and Russia, respectively. Besides, what was the sea called before it was the East Sea or Sea of Korea? How far back do we need to go to settle on a name?

Geographical names change over time. Burma becomes Myanmar. British Honduras becomes Belize. Fine, I don't mind a name change here and there. But Korea, in its choice of names, isn't much being much less nationalistic than Japan.

I say we have a Japan-Korea match of rock-scissors-paper. Winner gets to name the damn trough. Always worked when I was in the hagwons.