Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Google Asked to Identify Korea Correctly
The National Geographic Information Institute said Wednesday that it will hand over an English-language map of Korea to Google this month with a request that the U.S. Internet company stop using Japanese terms on the map of Korea....

Google had been criticized by many Koreans for using the term "Sea of Japan" for East Sea, the water that lies between the two countries. Upon receiving protests from people of the two countries, the company recently put both names on Google Earth, "East Sea" near the Korean coast and "Sea of Japan" on the opposite side.
By Cho Jin-seo, Korea Times (August 2, 2006)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200608/kt2006080217143710440.htm

[kprrok]

Slightly off-topic here, but I've got a question that I've been thinking about and would like your responses to.

Growing up, and while studying geography or anything where this topic might come into play, did any of you guys/girls ever learn that it was the "East Sea" rather than the Sea of Japan?

I realize that this doesn't make it the right name, but I'm just curious if anyone had heard it referred to as the East Sea before they got to Korea.

KPRROK

EDITED: fixed a typo. my keyboard here sucks.

[Kyrei]

Only Koreans call it the East Sea, and that is fine, go right ahead, its your language after all so you can call it what you want. It is internationally known in every other language as the "Sea of Japan", which follows standard naming conventions of naming a sea after the land that separates it from the rest of the ocean: Andaman Sea (after the Andaman Islands), Java Sea (after the island of Java) and the Sea of Japan (after the isles of Japan). The Koreans constantly embarrass themselves with this self-righteous nationalistic blindly-anti-Japanese crap. The mindless mob of non-critical-thinking-TV-watchers/believers swallow this indigestible tripe and vomit it up again at any opportunity. Hey, maybe it is like mixing soju and ramyeon at 2 AM?

One day the authorities will allow the use of marijuana in this country and everyone will just frikkin' chill out and learn to laugh at themselves. I hope I'm here on that day.

[noelinkorea]

Koreans expect the Japanese to call it the East Sea too? It lies west of Japan afterall...nice logic...

[vlcupper]

[animalbirdfish]

[Milwaukiedave]

But it's all Google's fault because their an evil American company.

I think Korea will have an up hill battle convincing Google to change the names.

[laogaiguk]

[antoniothegreat]

"The national map agency also said the new world map will be centered on the Korean Peninsular, unlike traditional Western-oriented maps that are centered on the Atlantic Ocean."

umm, what???? and why would we do that?

[vlcupper]

Because Korea is the bestest country in the whole world! Anybody who doesn't think so is just jealous!


They use metal chopsticks for god's sake! They're ingenius!

[Soul Forest]

I've seen old maps from the 18th or 19th century which called it the Korean Sea. I can't remember the French, but something like, "La Mer de Coree" was written.
What do most old maps call it? Anybody know?
I had seen that map at the house of a wealthy Indian man, who collected maps.

[Francis-Pax]

[Kyrei]

You are missing the point. For several hundred years, long before the Japanese colonial expansion, it was known internationally as the Sea of Japan, based on the location of the Japanese islands in relation to that body of water and the rest of the Pacific Ocean: Japan is what separates them, hence the name. That is a naming convention that has precedence in many other parts of the world. Just because it is east of Korea does not qualify it as the "East Sea". And changing the name to soothe the hurt feelings of Koreans who feel ignored and sidelined in a conflict they have created is in no way politically neutral. It would only make matters worse. The only people that care about the name "East Sea" are the Koreans. To the rest of the world, it will still be the Sea of Japan, and the Koreans will once more look like whiney little babies in that international spotlight.

[doggyji]

East Sea. If you don't like to interpret it as a sea that lies east of Korea, what about a sea in the east? The east of the Eurasian continent? Sea of Japan sounds just great?

[Kyrei]