East Sea Labeled as 'Sea of Japan' on UN-Recommended Equal Earth Map... Only Korean Version Uses 'East Sea'

Developed to Correct Exaggerated Area Distortions

"Request for Label Revision... Urgent Need for Government Response"

Controversy has arisen over the fact that, among the official maps of the Equal Earth projection—whose adoption by each country was recommended through a UN General Assembly resolution— all maps in English, Chinese, and Japanese, except for the Korean version, label the East Sea as the "Sea of Japan" (Sea of Japan·日本海).

The depiction of the Sea of Japan on the English and Japanese maps posted on the Equal Earth Projection official website. Yonhap News.

On September 9, Yonhap News reported that, upon reviewing the maps posted on the official website of the Equal Earth projection, all versions in English, Chinese, and Japanese—except for the Korean version—label the East Sea as the Sea of Japan. The Korean version, which was separately produced by the private group Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) and uploaded at VANK's request, labels the area as the East Sea.

On September 4 (local time), the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recommending that governments, educational institutions, international organizations, and technology companies adopt new maps based on the Equal Earth projection. This projection accurately represents area proportions and features less shape distortion compared to the Mercator projection, which is known to exaggerate landmasses at higher latitudes.

With the adoption of this recommendation at the UN General Assembly, it is expected that maps published on the official Equal Earth projection website will be downloaded and used by government agencies, researchers, educators, and citizens worldwide. Currently, the official website offers Equal Earth projection maps in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, but as the use expands following the recommendation, maps in additional languages are also expected to be produced and uploaded.

Among the maps registered on the official website of Equal Earth projection, it was confirmed that all English, Chinese, and Japanese versions, excluding the Korean version, label the East Sea as the "Sea of Japan." Only the Korean version map, produced by VANK, labels it as the East Sea and includes Dokdo. Yonhap News.

Currently, on the English and other language versions of the map, the East Sea is labeled as the "Sea of Japan," and only Ulleungdo is depicted without a name, while Dokdo is entirely absent. Only the Korean version of the Equal Earth projection map created by VANK includes Dokdo with its name.

Park Ki-tae, head of VANK, said, "We have requested that the official website of the Equal Earth projection change the labeling on the maps in languages other than Korean from 'Sea of Japan' to 'East Sea,' and to include Dokdo, but our request has not yet been accepted." He explained, "Since the Equal Earth projection was designed with a priority on representing area accurately rather than local names, there are still significant shortcomings regarding the labeling of regional names."

He added, "In the future, the Equal Earth projection will likely be used more frequently in educational settings in Korea over the Mercator projection, which means there may come a situation where education will rely on English maps that label the area as the Sea of Japan." He urged the government to take action and formally request the correction of the 'Sea of Japan' labeling before such maps become more widely used globally.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.