A few days ago I have visited your website – https://www.bluebird-electric.net/oceanography/Sea_Of_Japan.htm. And I was a little surprised and thought deeply. As I found that your website labeled Korea's 'East Sea' as 'Sea of Japan' alone, I would like to politely encourage you to correct this point.

Japan has continuously tried to claim the ‘East Sea’ as 'Sea of Japan' since early 20th century – the time that Japan try to expand its territory by establishing colonies, so these errors may happen on many websites including yours. However the use of ‘East Sea’ is more than ‘Sea of Japan’ in many western old maps but I think both names should be used in maps and websites.   

'East Sea' is in the east of Korean peninsula and west of Japan. South Korea calls it as ’East Sea’ while Japan. This is the result of Korea's loss of sovereignty and Japan's international status in the early 20th century when the world's geographical names were standardized. Although Korea has demanded correction ever since its independence in 1945, the case remains an unsolved problem in the international community.

International organizations recommend that names be unified if they use different names in two or more countries' shared areas, and that each name be used if no adjustment is made. It is an international standard to use the two names together until this agreement is reached, as the claims of Korea and Japan are very different now.

So I think we should use both 'East Sea' and 'Sea of Japan' for this sea and I would like to politely recommend you this fact. There is always debate all over the world over territory, sovereignty and its name. In order to objectively judge, I think we should use multiple names together and use one name when the situation is adjusted.

Therefore, I would like to advise you to think deeply about the above recommendations in order to view and judge history fairly and to enhance the objectivity of your web site.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Yudam Kim.