South Korea’s diplomatic efforts to have waters between Korea and Japan labeled as both ‘East Sea’ and ‘Sea of Japan’ on maps around the world have earned positive feedback.

A government delegation led by Ambassador-at-large for Geographic Naming Chang Dong-hee underlined the justifiability of the East Sea label at the tenth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names in New York on Monday. Some countries responded by backing South Korea’s position.

France’s delegation said it believes the joint labeling of the body of water is desirable, while Qatar’s delegation said it hopes related parties will hold consultations and smoothly resolve the matter of using both names.

Chang said it is significant that the two countries offered support for recognition of the 'East Sea' title.

Monday marked the first time for countries other than South and North Korea and Japan to state their position on the joint-labeling issue at the UN meeting on geographical names.