VANK fears 'Sea of Japan' still widely used worldwide for East Sea

At least 10 major overseas institutions, including the U.S. Department of State and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), use exclusively the name "Sea of Japan" for the body of water between Korea and Japan, historically called the East Sea, a nongovernmental organization in Seoul said Friday. The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), which promotes Korea and its history internationally online, pointed out the widespread use of the incorrect name for the East Sea after reviewing 10 foreign government agencies and international databases, which also included the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Britannica and National Geographic. VANK argues that, with more than 1.2 billion people worldwide using generative artificial intelligence (AI), incorrect place names could spread indiscriminately if names used incorrectly by highly reputable institutions are incorporated into AI training data. The U.S. state department's travel advisory page for Korea only used the name Sea of Japan without mentioning the East Sea, while NASA's satellite imag