Foreign Embassies in Korea Use Maps Without 'Dokdo' Label on Their Websites

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Professor Seo Kyung-duk of Sungshin Women's University announced on the 15th that “it has been found that foreign embassy websites in Korea are using maps that do not indicate Dokdo (DOKDO).”

Professor Seo said, “After investigating the embassy websites of the seven major G7 countries?United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Japan?as well as China, none of these sites’ maps showed Dokdo.”

The map on the U.S. Embassy website did not indicate either the East Sea or Dokdo at all. This is interpreted as a measure considering the complicated Korea-Japan relations over the Dokdo issue.

The map on the French Embassy website labels the sea as “Sea of Japan” instead of the East Sea, and Dokdo is labeled as “Liancourt Rocks.”

Liancourt Rocks is named after the French whaling ship Liancourt that discovered Dokdo, and it means “Liancourt Reef.”

This term is used by the Japanese government to deny Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo.

The German Embassy map, which uses Google Maps, shows both “Sea of Japan/East Sea” and marks Liancourt Reef.

Google cites the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook, which labels Dokdo as Liancourt Rocks and the East Sea as the Sea of Japan.

The Canadian Embassy website allows downloading maps as PDF files, but neither the East Sea nor Dokdo is indicated.

The Italian and Japanese embassies provide only maps near their embassy locations, while the Chinese and British embassies do not provide maps at all.

Professor Seo stated, “It is only natural that countries with embassies in Korea consider the sentiments of the host country’s people, so using maps without the East Sea and Dokdo indicated is problematic. We will continue to investigate more maps on foreign embassy websites in Korea and send protest emails to correct any inaccuracies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.