Marks Both the East Sea and the Sea of Japan

It has been confirmed that the French Government marked both the East Sea and the Sea of Japan in her hydrographic chart index that was published the beginning of this year.

Some of the world`s major media and private map makers had marked both before, but it is the first time that the East Sea is marked in an official hydrographic chart index published by a foreign government.

According to the Maritime-Fisheries Affairs Ministry on the 3rd, the Waterway Department of the French Defense Ministry marked both the ‘East Sea (Mer de l’Est)’ and ‘Sea of Japan (Mer du Japon)’ while publishing the ‘hydrographic chart index’ (2003 version) for people who use hydrographic charts that they made to use them more easily. In the previous version of 1999, only the Sea of Japan was marked.

The Head of the National Maritime Research Center, Lee Gwang-ro said, “It has been concluded that the Government, the academic world, and the netizens have continuously inquired to use both the East Sea and the Sea of Japan.”

Jin-Hup Song jinhup@donga.com