The U.S. State Department has confirmed the government calls the waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula the "Sea of Japan." The confirmation comes after some U.S. public schools started to teach what the South Korean government calls the body of water.
The Sea of Japan is also referred to as the East Sea in public schools in the state of Maryland. Assembly members in the neighboring state of Virginia are deliberating a bill that would require public school textbooks there to mention both names.
Those moves raised questions about the government's stance on place names. The State Department deputy spokesperson said U.S. officials use the names determined by the country's Board on Geographic Names.
(Marie Harf / U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson)
"The U.S. Board on Geographic Names' standard name for that body of water is the Sea of Japan."
She called on Japan and South Korea to work together to reach a common way forward on the issue of what to call the sea.
◆terminology 用語
◆Assembly members 迫害
◆neighboring 隣接する
◆deliberating 審議する
◆bill 法案
◆raise questions 問題を提起する、問題を投げかける
◆deputy 副官、代理官
◆Geographic 地理学上の
◆called on ～に求める
