I asked some British and continental European folks about the English Channel/La Manche issue in another forum. This is a paste-together of the relevant response.

AMERICAN:
I thought they always called it La Manche (”The Sleeve”) for the shape it resembles on a map.

BRIT:
That’s right. The french *hate* the fact that it’s called the english channel and refer to it by their traditional name whenever they can get away with it.

The naming of things as other things isn’t a particularly french thing, as Robin [a German geography major] pointed out, but the French are very insistent about this particular name. They consider it a national insult to call it “english” when only half of it belongs to us. [emphasis mine]

North Korea fired a missile into the East Sea whose range is presumed to be ranging from 100 to 120 kilometers, and it is known to be a KN-02, an upgraded version of the Soviet (Russian) SS21,” Kim Sung-il, a senior official at Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a closed-door parliamentary session, according to lawmakers who attended the session.

He said the missile launch is presumed to be for improving the performance of North Korea’s surface-to-surface missiles and not attacking another country or mounting nuclear or chemical warheads onto the missile.

The KN-02 is known to be a portable surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile, and its range is more expanded than that of the SS21 and its accuracy has been improved.

The missile, if fired from near the inter-Korean border, can strike the city of Pyeongtaek, which is scheduled to host most American soldiers stationed in South Korea in few years, in addition to thousands of troops currently stationed there.

How about the Greeks telling Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) what they can call themselves?

The situation and repurcussions there make Korea’s East Sea business look like a friendly parlor room discussion.

I’m sure that the international naming organizations have a few other examples.

Don’t the French call the English Channel “La Manche”?

The French are too busy protesting les Americains and getting upset about losing their French language to English vocabulary.

Kudos to Charlie for the excellent research. I was thinking this was the usual silkworm/seersucker launch, but it may be much more. I imagine fitting a cruise missile with a small plutonium weapon would be a heck of a way to get one’s neighbor’s attention. Considering the range of these missiles, however, the blast would also affect the folks launching it.