August 6, 2011
From left—Jung Ki Un, chairman of Voice of Korean Americans (VOKA), State Sen. Dave Marsden (D-37), and Peter Kim, president of VOKA, display a petition to use the dual names of “East Sea” and “Sea of Japan” to denote the body of water between Korea and Japan in Virginia’s textbooks. Currently, Virginia’s textbooks only use Sea of Japan, which Koreans view as historically inaccurate and a legacy of Japanese colonial rule.
Stories this photo appears in:
What’s in a Name?
Virginia legislators work with Korean American groups to push for “East Sea” in textbooks.
Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates Ken Cuccinelli (R) and Terry McAuliffe (D) may be light years apart on most issues, but on one issue they’ve reached a consensus. Last month, they both pledged support to Virginia’s growing population of Korean Americans to use the dual names of “East Sea” and “Sea of Japan” to denote the body of water between Korea and Japan in Virginia’s textbooks. Koreans view the “Sea of Japan” designation as a legacy of Japanese colonial rule. Currently, more than 2.5 million Korean-Americans reside in the U.S. and nearly 150,000 of them live in Virginia. “As governor, going forward, I will wholeheartedly support the effort … to have our textbooks and other teaching materials reflect the concurrent names as we pursue education excellence in Virginia,” Cuccinelli wrote in a Sept. 16 letter to the Korean Community of Virginia. “As governor, I will ensure that as new texts are purchased or downloaded, they reflect this important historical truth …,” McAuliffe wrote to the Korean Community of Virginia on Sept. 25. For the past year, state Sen. Dave Marsden (D-37) has been leading Virginia’s legislative efforts to add the “East Sea” in public school textbooks.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID