Dear Newgeography

Hello, my name is Jung Minuk, a student of Hana Academy in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. I am working as an active member of the Dokdo Cyber Press, a non-governmental and voluntary organization with the mandate to provide correct information about Korea to the international community, including textbook publishers.

First, I appreciate you for providing useful information to us on your Website. I came to send you an e-mail because I found something controversial on your Website in regards to “Sea of Japan.”

http://www.newgeography.com/content/004180-the-sea-japan-wading-into-name-game-waters

In the map in your website above, the sea is named only “Sea of Japan”, instead of “East Sea.”

In 1910, Japanese Empire illegally annexed Korea by force and began to dominate Korea and infringe upon Korean human right. Japanese government have deprived Korean of lots of products (mainly rice) to support their wars and suppressed the public uprising by force of arms even if it was nonviolent. The one of things Japan firstly did directly after dominating Korea was to absorb ‘Dokdo’ and name ‘the sea between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Islands’ as only "Sea of Japan" because they wanted to expand their territory.

Your Website spelled “Sea of Japan” instead of “East sea”. According to international organization, “If each of two or more countries use different name, international organization advises the name’s simplification, and if it can’t do, it has to use both names.”

Therefore, it is not right to name the sea only “Sea of Japan.” I humbly ask for your website to seriously consider the issue of naming the sea both “Sea of Japan” and “East Sea”. Please visit the website (http://dokdo.mofat.go.kr) for more information on geographical designation.

Thank you for reading my long email and I would very much appreciate if you consider changing the name of the “Sea of Japan” on your Website. I look forward to hearing from you.

(mailto: jmuk911@gmail.com)