This screen capture shows that the East Sea is displayed as “Sea of Japan (East Sea)” on Google Weather, when accessed from Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. (Seo Kyung-duk)
A Korean campaigner on Tuesday issued a complaint over global search engine Google, pointing out that its local weather services describe the East Sea primarily as “Sea of Japan.”
Seo Kyung-duk, a professor of liberal arts at Sungshin Women’s University, said the body of water between the two countries is being displayed as the “Sea of Japan (East Sea)” to Korean users accessing Google from regions close to Japan. Such regions include South Gyeongsang Provincial regions including Changwon city and nearby Changnyeong-gun.
He pointed out that this is against Google’s policy to aim for neutrality on disputed areas. Since Google conventionally complies with local conventions on displaying such areas, Seo said the area should be seen as the East Sea to Korean users.
This particular body of water is displayed as the East Sea on Google from most part of Korea, and is labelled as the Sea of Japan when accessed from Japan.
“If Google is truly a global corporation, it should at least be mindful of the general sentiment of a certain country. Yet it decided to ignore Korea’s,” said Seo, a self-proclaimed promoter of Korea and its culture to the outside world. He called for Google to adjust the displays.
The name of the East Sea is a topic of dispute between Korea and Japan, as many Koreans see it as closely linked to Japan’s claim over Korean islets of Dokdo — which is called Takeshima from the Japanese side. The exclusive economic zone in here is a highly-contested issue among South Korea, Japan, and North Korea, as their claims over the maritime border overlap.
The name Sea of Japan was adopted uncontested in 1929 by the International Hydrographic Organization, as Korea was a colony of Japan at the time. But the South Korean government since 1992 has been challenging the name at the United Nations.
The official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that both names should be used in parallel with each other, but the Tokyo government says that Sea of Japan is the only internationally established name.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com