Comments on: Screw the missiles… how are the round eyes marking their maps?

By: Zonath

Zonath — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 08:56:18 +0000

But now we have eunichs in Yongsan telling us that the Koreans get offended if we refer to the “West Sea” as the “Yellow Sea”.

Someone call VANK. An article in National Geographic referred to Central Country as “China”.

By: lirelou

lirelou — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 07:12:00 +0000

I don’t mind calling it the East Sea. After all, it is east of Korea. But now we have eunichs in Yongsan telling us that the Koreans get offended if we refer to the “West Sea” as the “Yellow Sea”. So our maps get cut and paste jobs to replace “Yellow Sea” with “West Sea”. This obviously from Korean experts who cannot understand that “Hwanghae” was the recognized name for at least 600 years. Hell, there’s still a Hwanghae (Yellow Sea) province just across the DMZ.

By: Darin

Darin — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:23:11 +0000

Then the Sea of Darin it is! And yes, that does symbolize my possession, I also claim all resources and meaningless rocks in my sea as property of Darin共和国

By: Zhang Fei

Zhang Fei — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 01:47:39 +0000

Darin: Geographically, culturally, and historically that center has always been China, so just go for the North China Sea.

Doesn’t really work, since there already is a North China Sea. The Chinese name actually refers to it as the North Sea. China also has an East Sea and a South Sea. The international names just add the word “China” before the word “Sea”.

By: Darin

Darin — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 01:20:27 +0000

“North China Sea”

I personally think that’s the only logical solution. Calling it the East Sea wouldn’t make sense to Japan because it’s the West of Japan so a mutual ‘center’ must be found. Geographically, culturally, and historically that center has always been China, so just go for the North China Sea.

But really does it need to be changed? This isn’t an issue about the naming being ‘wrong’ so much as it’s just an obvious anti-Japan move. If it was really about possession, then there would be many other places for Korea to complain about besides Japan… but they don’t. If it is a ’symbol of Japanese aggression’, then what about the other Seas of China that China had conquered (however they weren’t named that because of it, they were trade routes to China — China just refers to them as the East and South Seas), but no, no problems there. It’s just about pushing around Japan.

In both Japan and Korea, they have this societal ‘issue’ were they bully the weak and honor the strong. In the east it’s called ‘confucianism’ but in the west it’s called ‘immature’. Interestingly enough, China, the origin of confucianism, has grown up much faster then it’s former followers.

By: Mizar5

Mizar5 — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:10:15 +0000

Amen to MrChips. Sea of Japan is the proper name for that body of water, not East Sea - unless Koreans can put forth a coherent logical argument to the contrary, which so far they haven’t.

Korean arguments typically follow the pattern of forcing the Korean perspective on others without a cogent argument to do so.

The bottom line is Korean identity is largely defined by paranoia, hatred and envy of Japan - which is a very dysfunctional way to define yourself. No wonder Korean society is itself dysfunctional; relationships are defined by greed, hatred and envy rather than mutual good will. What we are seeing today is the inevitable result. Brace yourself for many hardships to come.

By: MrChips

MrChips — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:23:06 +0000

I may be an idiot here and my friends frequently say so, but it seems to me that given the location of Japan, the “Sea of Japan” is labeled so functionally, not for nationalistic purposes. What would it be called if the Japanese islands weren’t there? The pacific ocean? Or the East Ocean? Ahh, then the argument would be with someone else. East Sea can only be considered nation-centric. I mean, is Sea of Japan the name given to that body of water by Japanese of old or by later European navigators who recognized it as a Sea and not an Ocean? Only reason for Japanese to oppose its being formally changed internationally to East Sea is that this is an obvious attempt to make them lose face.

Now, if it was called the “Sea of our Imperial Lord and Eternal Protector” that would be different.

By: Jing

Jing — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 19:36:54 +0000

I propose, as a compromise, that the aforementioned body of water be renamed the North China Sea. I mean there is already an East and South, this would make a triple play!

By: sewing

sewing — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:48:31 +0000

The Sea of Mutual Antagonism?

By: seouldout

seouldout — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:36:52 +0000

Still think the We Hate Those Bastards On The Other Side Sea would be agreeable to both. Until then it’s the Sea of Japan when in the company of Koreans and the East Sea when with the Japanese. Koreans much easier to wind up.