To Seabourn:

Hello, I am a concerned highschool student of South Korea. I am currently working with an activist group to change the views about the term ‘Sea of Japan’. We, the Dokdo Cyber Student Press, wish to change the widespread usage of ‘Sea of Japan’, and replace it with the term, ‘East Sea’. Despite most of the world simply accepting usage of the term, it is not based on historically accurate evidence, and is a byproduct of the Japanese annexation of Korea in the 19^th century.

In Korea, the term ‘East Sea’ has been in use for over 2,000 years, with historical records such as The History of the Three Kingdoms(三國史記, 1145) and Map of Eight Provinces of Korea(八道總圖, 1530) claiming so. On the other hand, the first historically acceptable record that claimed the body of water as the ‘Sea of Japan’ was the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu(Ricci, 1602), thus giving ‘East Sea’ the claim of seniority. No Japanese record published before the late 18^th century claims the ocean’s name as ‘Sea of Japan’, either. In fact, some Japanese maps such as Simplified Map of Japan’s Periphery(日本邊界略圖, 1809) and New World Map(新製輿地全圖, 1844) uses the term ‘Chosenkai’, which literally means ‘Sea of Joseon’. Japan’s usage of the term indicates the term, ‘Sea of Japan’, was not widely used until the mid-19^th century, when nationalism ran rampant among the Japanese. Most of Japan’s evidence supporting the usage of ‘Sea of Japan’ was fabricated during and after this period, while Korea had been annexed and unable to present its arguments.

And thus, it is in my and our interest that the Seabourn website discontinues its usage of the offensive term. ‘Sea of Japan’ is the byproduct of imperialism and annexation, and its usage is generally offensive to most of the Korean populace. Hopefully, you will be understanding and agree to use alternative terms such as ‘East Sea’.

Thank you for your time.

Hyunjung Lee