Korea to promote use of East Sea name in upcoming UN meeting

South Korea plans to call for the use of the term East Sea for the body of water lying between the nation and Japan in an upcoming United Nations meeting on geographical names, the foreign ministry here said Monday.

"Since our delegation first proposed the issue of East Sea naming at the sixth meeting of UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names in 1992, (Korea) has called for the dual use of East Sea and the Sea of Japan," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

"Also in the upcoming meeting, we will express our stance that the East Sea and the Sea of Japan should be used together."

The 11th UNCSGN meeting is set to kick off in New York on Tuesday (US time) for a three-day run. Amb. for Geographic Naming Yoo Eui-sang will head a South Korean delegation to the meeting.

The UNCSGN meets every five years to discuss standards and methodology of naming geographical sites.

South Korea maintains that East Sea has been used for more than 2,000 years, far longer than the Japanese name, to refer to the sea between the two countries. (Yonhap)