Google Puts "Sea of Japan" Before "East Sea" Again

[경향신문]

Google stirred controversy by referring to the East Sea as the Sea of Japan first in some domestic services. According to the IT industry on November 22, the Google application (pictured) recently began stating the East Sea as the “Sea of Japan (also known as East Sea)” in its weather service.

When it comes to locations with different names in different countries, Google uses the name used in the country from which the user logs in. For instance, if someone uses Google Maps from South Korea, the body of water to the east of the Korean Peninsula is stated as the “East Sea,” but when accessed from Japan, it is stated as the “Sea of Japan.” If a user logs in from a third country, both names are stated as the “Sea of Japan (East Sea).”

But the latest case triggered fierce attacks, because the “Sea of Japan” was stated before the “East Sea” even for users in South Korea. One person online said, “I was surprised and upset to see the East Sea named as the ‘Sea of Japan’ in the Google weather notification,” and criticized, “How can they state it as the ‘Sea of Japan’ when providing services in the Korean language in Korea?”

Google has not released any statement on this issue. The problem of names used by Google for geographic locations has stirred controversy on several occasions. In August, Google was at the center of another controversy, because when users searched “Dokdo” on Google Maps, the search results came up empty. In a parliamentary inspection last month, the English edition of Google Earth triggered a heated debate for referring to the controversial waters as the “Sea of Japan.” At the parliamentary inspection, Im Jae-hyun, executive director of Google Korea said, “If it is true, then I think there was a serious mistake. We will correct it immediately.” Yet at the same time, he added, “We need to listen to the view of the South Korean government and also the opinion of the Japanese government.”