From Yonhap.
Some asshole in New York City---redundant?---has begun running an advertisement on a tour bus that promotes South Korea's claims to the Liancourt Rocks and the Sea of Japan. From the Korea Times, which makes it sound like the whole goddamn bus is devoted to Dokdo:
Amid South Korean civic groups’ vigorous campaign to promote the international awareness of Dokdo and of South Korea’s sovereignty over the islets, which is challenged by Japan, a tour bus in New York has begun to run a Dokdo-promoting advertisement, joining the same crusade in a novel way.
The full five-meter LED (light-emitting diode) ad, attached to a double-decker that tours around Manhattan, flashes to pedestrians that the proper name of the international sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan is “East Sea” and Dokdo, a set of islets there also belongs to South Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday.
"Do You Know? For the last 2,000 years, the body of water between Korea and Japan has been called the `East Sea.' And Dokdo located in the East Sea is a part of Korean territory,” the 15-second ad said, displaying a big picture of Dokdo.
I think that's my favorite claim. As a matter of fact, no, I didn't know that Koreans have been calling it "East Sea" for 2,000 years. I had no idea the English language was that old.
The bus is a property of the East Tourism Co., a tour company run by Cho Kyu-sung.
“As a person who originally came from Korea, I became disquieted whenever the disputes surrounding the Dokdo ownership and its official international naming surfaced,” Cho said.
“I just wanted to tell people here in New York that Dokdo belongs to Korea, and East Sea ‘is’ East Sea,” he added.
We've been through this a million times, but it's "East Sea" in Korean, Sea of Japan in English. Nobody is trying to rename the body of water 일본해, and it would be appreciated if Koreans didn't try to dictate how foreign, sovereign countries used their languages.
A woman, identified as Kristin, said, “It’s my first time to know that the name of the sea between South Korea and Japan is East Sea.” With her curiosity apparently picked by the ad, she then asked the reporter what “Dokdo” meant.
This token foreign woman, should she even exist, must feel very honored that out of all the people in New York City, the ad picked her. I wonder if Kristin asked why the map on the ad didn't depict North Korea. I wonder if she further asked why they are being so selective with their corrections.
13 comments:
Jumping Jesus Christ on a pogo stick. Will these nutjobs ever stop?
That is one of the most funny things I have heard in a while. That almost beats the Koreans being kidnapped in Afghanistan. Why do they think New Yorkers would care first of all. Second of all, who is spending this money and to what end? By posting a sign on a bus about Dokdo is not going to make it theirs.
Korea Movie Times
http://koreamovietimes.com
“It’s like New York has become a Mecca for the Dokdo campaign,” he said.
How did you miss that one? It should be added to your list.
That KT story was an assault on history and an assault on the English language.
Wow, you're right Michael. I think once "Sea of Japan" enters my field of vision I'm blind to everything else, even Meccas.
For those who missed it, I'm proud of this collection:
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/06/m-word.html
Between this bus and that dry cleaning bag, clearly New York City is a Mecca of the Dokdo movement. Or at least a Mecca of loud-mouthed immigrants.
Attention whores.
The Korean terms for these bodies of waters in themselves are so ethnocentric: East Sea, West Sea, South Sea. They are all relative to the position of the Korean peninsula. Why in the hell would we or should we accept their appellations?
I asked a student of mine where did he go for the summer. He replied that he went to the West Sea. I said, "I'm sorry...but most English speakers wouldn't have the slightest clue what you are talking about. Try "Yellow Sea" and they would at least know it must be somewhere in Asia.
For you English teachers: Don't be afraid to tell your students what the correct English names are for geographic locations. (Of course be nice about it.)
I don't see anything wrong with Koreans using the Korea-centric names East Sea, West Sea, and South Sea when speaking with foreigners in Korea. People often use alternate place names in conversations. I do think the media and textbooks should use internationally recognized names that Koreans themselves do not dispute, but the Korean media prefers Korea-centric names.
"it is my first time to know"
i'm gonna go ahead and say that this kristin is more than likely a figment of someone's imagination. not only have i never heard a native english speaker talk like that, it's pretty much how you'd say it if you were just translating from korean to english, instead of using more natural terms like "learn" or "find out."
A better bus ad:
http://img529.imageshack.us/i/n75587780220701334557.jpg/
The sea right between Korea and Japan had more than one name historically in Western maps. Korea Sea, Japan Sea, etc etc etc.
There need to be a politically neutral name for it. I'll call it the East Asian Mediterranean Sea.
I would like to formally request that Koreans stop referring to me as "mi-guk" and refer to me by my proper tag: "American."
Or would that be whining?
It takes a foreign person well schooled in the histories of Japan and Korea to even begin to understand Korea's issues over Dokdo and even then you're kind of left going "hmmm but aren't there more pressing issues in Korea that you might channel that energy into?"
How Koreans think a bus ad is going to get anyone without a good grasp of the Japanese colonial period to go "yeah, let's get on your issue about two rocks right now... because the economy is doing so well in the USA, Iran isn't working on nukes, health care is making everyone happy and healthy... so you know we totally have cycles to spend understanding why you're screaming about this"
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