To whom it may concern

Hello! I am a high school student in South Korea, and also I'm a member of Dokdo Cyber Student Press. We are trying to inform the right history of our country and correct the wrong name in every web-site including world maps. I found some errors about the naming of Mar del Este on your article. Please read my e-mail at the end, then hope you can understand my opinion why I insist on using the word, Mar del Este not only use Mar del Japan.

There are few reasonable evidences why “Mar del Japan” is incorrect wording. First of all, Mar del Este have been called “Mar del Este” since 2000 years before which is even 700 years ahead compared to when the term “Japan” started to be used. Therefore, in historical point of view “Mar del Este” is way more justifiable wording compared to “Mar del Japan”. Since the East Sea region is a sea area adjacent to four countries including South Korea, North Korea, Japan, and Russia, it is not correct to name the sea area according to only one of the countries concerned, and it is necessary to find a name that all of the countries concerned can agree on. If this is not possible, it is appropriate to write the name used by the country concerned. The United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, which deals with the standardization of geographical names, also recommends that, in case of dispute over geographical names, it is recommended to be provisionally attached until an agreement is reached between the relevant countries. The general methodology for determining the geographical name of the ocean is customary to follow the name of the continent located to the left of the relevant sea area. In the case of the East Sea, we are insisting on the use of the Mar del Este as a sea located in the east of the Eurasian continent, not only as the Korean Peninsula.

As the above reasons you need write down the name " Mar del Este " also.

We will continue explaining to the international society the legitimacy behind the concurrent use of the Mar del Este and the injustice in using only the Mar del Japan on the basis of objective facts and general principles of the international society.

Thanks for your reading & Hope your reply soon,

Hyunseo Lee