South Korean high school students in Shanghai have launched a campaign to promote the use of the term “East Sea” by the Chinese media to describe the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The Shanghai Journal, a paper for the ethnic Korean community in the city, said 13 members of its reporter group of high school students sent e-mail messages last month to 16 leading Chinese newspapers and three publishers urging the use of the term "East Sea."

The South China Morning Post reportedly replied that it will seriously consider the request.

The student reporters launched the campaign because the body of water is often described as the "Sea of Japan" in Chinese papers in stories on the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan and joint military drills between South Korea and the U.S.