By Evan Ramstad
SEOUL — The antisubmarine exercise that the South Korea and U.S. militaries are conducting this week is being publicized so heavily here that it seems that the only thing being left unsaid is precisely where it’s happening.
- Associated Press
- A South Korean child sits on an U.S. flag during a rally against South Korea and U.S. joint exercises near the U.S. embassy in Seoul.
And that’s not because the two countries are trying to keep it a secret. It’s because they both have different names for the sea they’re in.
Geoff Morrell, the spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, found himself the target of critical media coverage in South Korea two weeks ago after he announced at a briefing in Washington that most of the exercise would take place in the Sea of Japan.
On the Korean peninsula, the water between the Koreas and Japan is called the East Sea. (The water between the Koreas and China is called the West Sea, but fewer complain in South Korea about the Yellow Sea moniker that China and other countries use.) The controversy is a familiar one to international news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, who routinely hear from people in both South Korea and Japan depending on which name for the water is put above the other.
When defense secretaries of the two countries last Wednesday jointly announced the start of the exercise, they said it would happen “in the seas east of the peninsula.”
As of Sunday, the first day of the four-day exercise, there was still no word whether some of the exercise would take place in the Yellow Sea, a prospect that Chinese diplomats have publicly tried to prevent.
If that does happen, watch for the confirmation to say “in the seas west of the peninsula.”
In Vietnam, It’s called East Sea instead of South China Sea.
The claims about the names of seas reflect the typical inferiority complex of the South Koreans, so pathetic.
What does it matter if it is called East Sea OR The Sea of Japan? Why does it have to be the east sea?
I see…The dream of becoming big power/great nation has never died out,which is growing more promient recently.
The numerous groundless disputes with China and Japan about culture,territory and something else are nothing but tricks to attract eyeballs around the world.
Small country will always be small,don’t ever pretend yourself to be a giant.
it is sea of Japan.
Why korea ALWAYS claim about the name of sea even they are groundless??
No one can trust Korean people coz they are full of fake.
Korea have so short history, always having a problem with north korea and everything is copied from Japan especially machines.
LG and samsung is successing in overseas but their bases are all came from Japan.
they are weakest country ever.
Both incorrect. The correct name is China Sea. It is called East Sea in ancient time because it is East of China. From the ancient name it is cleary it belong to China. Korea is a province of China.
If you look at ancient text of Korea and Japan, it is all written in Chinese. Clearly, Korea and Japan are provinces of China.
(The water between the Koreas and China is called the West Sea, but fewer complain in South Korea about the Yellow Sea moniker that China and other countries use.) –> Actually, the sea between the Korea and China is called the West Sea & Yellow sea together because the color of the sea always is yellowish by sand-winds from China specially spring season. But the water between Korea and Japan is called only the East Sea in Korea The old maps between two countries show the name of the sea is “East Sea”, instead of the Sea of Japan. The sea named from the world war two like Dok-do( Japanese ask Takesima) in Japan so Korean could not accept the name.