Sci/Tech South Koreans “Down White House Homepage” and Japan "Counter-Petitioned Back."

[tom_mai78101]

The White House reports that South Korean accesses downed their homepage after a petition demanding the US make schools stop using the “Sea of Japan” name in their textbooks inflamed the passions of nationalists.

The trouble began when a Virginia-based Korean pressure group started a petition on the White House’s “We the People” petition system, demanding that the federal government ban school textbooks from referring to the sea to west of Japan as “the Sea of Japan,” and instead call solely it “the East Sea.”

The text of the initial petition, which cannily attempts to present the obscure naming dispute as correcting injustices being inflicted on children and veterans, both of which obsess American politicians:

The East Sea – a FALSE history in our textbooks!

We are teaching our children a FALSE history in classrooms:

1. As a result of gruesome military expansionism, Japan changed “East Sea” (the original name of sea bordered by Korea, Russia, and Japan) to “Sea of Japan” in 1928

2. Korea was liberated in 1945, but Japan still refuses to return “East Sea” to its original identity.

3. Our veterans were the major force defeating Japan in World War II. We helped Korea to regain its freedom.

4. However, we are still teaching our children a FALSE history that was manipulated by the invader who attacked “Pearl Harbor”.

Please join us and sign this petition to correct a FALSE history in our textbooks. Our children have right to learn a TRUE history!

The unusual fervour and international meddling of Korean nationalists has many in Japan concerned, and a counter-petition was launched:

Sea of Japan -the authentic history in our textbooks! We are teaching our children the authentic history, so why change?

We should definitely keep the Sea of Japan as it is now.

1. Contrary to the Korean claim that Japan changed “East Sea” to “Sea of Japan” in 1928, the Sea of Japan has always been the Sea of Japan, since the beginning of time.

2. South Koreans are under heavy communism influence because of communist North Korea, and have forgotten about the massive American blood spilled to defend them from the North Korean invasion aided by Russians and Communist Chinese during the Korean War in the ’50s. Now they want the American forces out. Their extreme ethnocentricity blinds them and they want to rewrite history per their stories. That is plain wrong.

Please join us and sign this petition to stop FALSIFYING history in our textbooks. Our children have right to keep learning a TRUE history!

Read more here. (NSFW Sankaku Forums)

This is an interesting article. I included the quotes here so as to decrease the traffic of going towards a NSFW site from here, and to give readers what South Korea and Japan are fighting about.

 

[Dan]

Someone sound the "who the F**K cares" alarm for Korea...

This is so juvenile. And also... who really cares? Let's call it the "Sea that Korea can't have" and everyone can be happy.

communists...

Americans have really low test scores in geography already. Why would naming something "Sea of the East" help at all when the alternative is naming it by the huge landmass that it touches...

 

[Weegee]

in my based opinion, I like japan better than Korea cause they seem more open to foreign countries and just seem nicer. Bringing up pearl harbor as an "attack" on why it should be the east sea in our textbooks is childish and really just finger pointing. Japan brings up many points as to why Korea should stop trying to change the name. Let Japan have a sea for themselves, who really cares Korea. Who really cares..

 

[Accname]

Well, i can understand they dont like it to be called "sea of japan" because japan is only one of the countries bordering the sea.
But i dont think its worth to print new edition of textbooks for all schools just because of a single name change. Thats silly.

 

[Slapshot136]

the U.S. doesn't seem to have any issues with the "gulf of Mexico" bordering Florida and other U.S. states (more so then it borders Mexico in fact)