During the Japanese occupation in Korea from 1910-1945, Koreans had to surrender a lot of things to the Japanese. Some things included their country, rights, and their freedom. Another thing that occurred during the Japanese occupation was the name change of the East Sea to the Sea of Japan. With the surrender of Japan in 1945 and the end of World War II, Koreans were able to once again gain their independence and country back. However, the Sea of Japan name did not change.

To this day, many people around the world are misinformed about the naming of this sea. Most textbooks, maps, etc. still label this sea as the Sea of Japan instead of the East Sea. However, VANK has started a mission to try to change this by aggressively writing emails to famous publishers and websites about their misleading information and how it impacts Korean people. Thanks to their accomplishments, more publishers, educational institutions, and even museums have begun to use the name East Sea by itself or alongside the name Sea of Japan. In 1990, the usage of the name East Sea was just 3%. 10 years later, that statistic has risen to almost 30%! VANK has also started to distribute world maps to these facilities and to classrooms that uses the correct naming for the East Sea.

Please help VANK in helping bring about a change and help promote Korean history!