Signe Paevere
From: Peter Kim <
[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 6:23 PM
To: VA_hnt
Subject: The Amendment : East Sea and Sea of Japan
Dear IHO Member:
My name is Peter Kim, President of Voice of Korean Americans (VoKA), a non-profit
organization which is based in Virginia, U.S.A. On behalf of 2.5 Million Korean Americans in the
U.S. and 50 Million Koreans in South Korea, I would like to urge your support on the amendment
which requires the concurrent usage of East Sea and Sea of Japan in the International
Hydrographic Organization (IHO) Meeting next week.
Korean people used the name “East Sea” for more than 2,000 years. Also, the Korean National
Anthem starts out with “East Sea”. During the Japanese military occupation of Korea in 1929,
Japan sent the representatives to the first formal IHO Meeting and inserted “Sea of Japan”
only. Since that time, all maps, textbooks, and publications in the world have been marking the
sea as “Sea of Japan” only.
Korean people appealed this issue a number of times at the international meetings. As a result,
both IHO and UN recommended concurrent usage of East Sea and Sea of Japan in 1974 and
1977. UN resolution even said “A policy of accepting only one or some of such names while
excluding the rest would be inconsistent as well as inexpedient in practice.” However, some
opposing countries have been the barriers to correctly update all textbooks, maps, and publication
in the countries around the world.
In January 2014, Korean Americans in Virginia, USA started a grass root movement to pass a
legislation that legally requires all the textbooks to use both “East Sea” and “Sea of
Japan”. Therefore, all publishers in the U.S. currently are in the process of updating their social
study textbooks. However, there still are some decorative maps and other publications marking
“Sea of Japan” only in the U.S. In addition, most of the countries around the world are still using
“Sea of Japan” only.
On March 21, 2017, Korean Americans started a White House Petition to urge US Government
to change its policy to recognize both East Sea and Sea of Japan. As of today, 107,745 Korean
Americans have signed the petition as you can see in the below link. Therefore, the White House
has to issue a formal response regarding the matter.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/east-sea-change-us-policy-recognize-both-east-sea-sea-
japan-both-iho-uncsgn-recommend-concurrent-usage
Once again, 50 Million people in South Korea and 7.5 Million Koreans around the world urge
your country to fairly recognize both sea names, “EAST SEA” & “Sea of Japan,” and pass the
amendment for concurrent usage at the IHO Meeting in Monaco on April 24-28, 2017. I look
forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours truly
1
Peter Kim
President, Voice of Korean American (VoKA)
2