Gwangju Seo-gu Council Condemns U.S. Department of Defense for Sole Use of 'Sea of Japan'

Last February, the U.S. Department of Defense conducted a joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan, unilaterally labeling the training location 'Donghae' as the 'Sea of Japan.' Despite South Korea's request for correction, the U.S. military stated it would maintain the use of the name 'Sea of Japan.'

In response, the Gwangju Seo-gu Council (Chairperson Go Gyeong-ae) adopted a resolution condemning the U.S. Department of Defense's unilateral labeling of 'Donghae' as the 'Sea of Japan' during the 2nd plenary session of the 314th extraordinary meeting held on the 19th.

Representative lawmaker Baek Jong-han, who proposed the resolution, stated, "'Donghae' is a name with historical legitimacy used for over 2,000 years," and argued, "Correcting the distorted name is a very important issue related to our people's identity," strongly demanding the U.S. Department of Defense withdraw its stance on the unilateral use of 'Sea of Japan.'

According to the Donghae Research Association, starting with the 6th United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names held in 1992, the South Korean government has objected to the unilateral use of 'Sea of Japan' in various international forums and has advocated for the concurrent use, or dual notation, of 'Donghae' or 'Donghae and Sea of Japan.'

Through over 30 years of consistent efforts, the rate of dual notation on world maps, which was only 2.8%, has now increased to about 40%.

Lawmaker Baek stated, "If the United States ignores the South Korea alliance and only supports the Japanese government's position, it will worsen the historical conflicts and territorial disputes between South Korea and Japan," and added, "The U.S. Department of Defense should immediately accept South Korea's proposal to use both 'Donghae' and 'Sea of Japan' concurrently for the sake of building a future-oriented trilateral relationship among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan."

Shin Dong-ho, Honam Bureau, Asia Economy, bless4ya@asiae.co.kr

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