There is a body of water between the Japanese islands, Russia, North and South Korea. The countries affected have not been able to agree on a common name for this body of water. So far, most countries called it Sea of Japan. North and South Korea do not want this name, they suggested to call it East Sea, or East Sea of Korea. In 1992, both Koreas raised concerns about the name, at the Sixth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.[1] The Japanese government says that only the name "Sea of Japan" (日本海) should be used. South Korea supports the alternative name "East Sea" (Korean: 동해; Hanja: 東海). North Korea supports the name "East Sea of Korea" (Korean: 조선동해; Hanja: 朝鮮東海). Currently, most international maps and documents use either the name Sea of Japan (or a translation) by itself, or include both the name Sea of Japan and East Sea. Very often, the name East Sea is listed in parentheses or otherwise marked as an alternative. The International Hydrographic Organization is responsible for naming bodies of water around the world. In 2012, it decided it was still unable to change the 1953 version of its publication S-23 – Limits of Oceans and Seas, which includes only the single name "Sea of Japan", to include "East Sea" together with "Sea of Japan".[2][3][4]
The countries have given different arguments, for their naming proposition, but each name has its problems:
The International Hydrographic organisation made a resolution in 1974. In this resolution, it stated that in the case that the countries cannot agree on a common name for a body of water, all names should be accepted. However, Japan argues that the resolution only applies to the bays and straits which are shared by multiple countries, and in case of high seas such as the Sea of Japan, it is not applicable. Japan also cites the United Nations’ policy for using the Sea of Japan as an official name for their reasoning.[5]