South Korea and Japan's dispute over the name of the body of water between the two countries is expected to be concluded with a number designation by the International Hydrographic Organization(IHO).

According to Seoul's Foreign Ministry on Monday, IHO Secretary General Mathias Jonas will announce the outcome of unofficial talks to revise "S-23," an IHO standard for world map production, at a virtual General Assembly on November 16.

"S-23" currently uses the Japanese name, "Sea of Japan," for the sea and South Korea has been calling for the dual use of "East Sea" and "Sea of Japan" since 1997.

After the two Koreas and Japan failed to reach an agreement during unofficial discussions in April and October last year, the IHO chief proposed "a system of unique numerical identifiers."

Both South Korea and Japan have supported the idea in the age of digitization.

Should the proposal be approved by the IHO Assembly, neither the Korean nor the Japanese name will be used to refer to the sea.