'East Sea' has been used for more than 2,000 years, and is still used by 75 million Korean people, and has an important meaning to us as it appears in the first verse of the national anthem. Nevertheless, unlike Japan, we do not insist on the use of ¡®East Sea¡¯ alone instead of ¡®Japan Sea¡¯, and we are presenting a rational way of stating the names used by both sides together.
Also, when determining a sea¡¯s name, the most important rule is to reflect on what the universally used name by the citizens of the neighboring countries. ¡°East Sea¡± came onto the stage in history over 2,000 years ago and has been used on the peninsula ever since.
Most of all, the U.S. state of Virginia has revised the guidelines for history and social science education in line with a newly enacted law that requires textbooks to use the Korean name ¡°East Sea¡± alongside the Japanese name ¡°Sea of Japan¡± for the body of water between the two countries on 2017.
According to IHO(International Hydrographic Organization) and UNCSGN(United Nations Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names), in case of topographical feature shared with two or more countries, yet naming differently in their own languages, all of the names in each language should be marked.
Once Korea and Japan agree on a common designation, that is in accord with the general rule of international cartography, we will then follow the agreed-on designation.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely yours