The Japanese government has reportedly protested the U.S. military's use of the term "East Sea" in its description of the venue for a joint maritime exercise with South Korea held late last month. 

Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily on Friday reported that the U.S. military removed the "East Sea" reference and instead used "waters between Korea and Japan" after Tokyo lodged a protest.

According to the Japanese foreign ministry's explanation to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the U.S. Pacific Fleet stated the venue for last month's combined U.S.-South Korea exercise as the "East Sea" or "waters east of the Korean peninsula."

The Japanese government reportedly lodged a protest against the U.S. military over the reference, arguing that the "Sea of Japan" is the sole internationally established name for the waters. It urged the U.S. to correct its statement. 

After the protest, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command dropped the term "East Sea," but did not use the "Sea of Japan" either. 

The command described the body of waters as "waters east of the Korean peninsula" in a drill on September 30, "waters between Korea and Japan" on October 6 and "waters between Japan and Korea" on October 8.