Virginian Governor signs bill on East Sea naming

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has signed a bill into law on the naming of East Sea, according to diplomatic sources Thursday.

The bill is intended to identify the body of water between Korea and Japan as the East Sea along with the Sea of Japan in all new public school textbooks. The new bill will take effect from July 2.

The Virginian State Congress also notified that the bill had been approved by the governor through a bulletin.

There has been speculation that the Virginian governor had been supportive of Japanese side in bids to prevent the new bill from taking effect.

He was reported to have signed the bill Friday, Yonhap News quoted Peter Y. Kim, head of the Voice of Korean Americans, as saying. The organization has been campaigning toward the drive.

Earlier, the Virginian state Legislature passed the East Sea bill in March amid fierce lobbying despite opposition from the Japanese side.

Kim said U.S. officials sent by the governor visited the Korea Town to discuss details for the ceremony to commemorate the signing of the new bill.

He said the bill has a significant meaning in that it is the first such case a U.S. state has approved the use of East Sea alongside Sea of Japan for naming the body of sea water.

Korea has claimed the body of water between the two countries had more widely been known as Sea of Japan than its original name of East Sea, due apparently to the legacy of Japanese imperialism including the 1910-45 colonization of the Korean peninsula. By Shim Jae-yun, The Korea Times