A Korean American fighting for recognition of the name "East Sea" to identify the waters between Korea and Japan is set to meet with U.S. government officials over the labeling issue.
Peter Kim, the former director of international cooperation at the Korean-American Association of Virginia, said Wednesday that he will hold a private meeting with White House and U.S. Department of Education officials to discuss naming the waters East Sea instead of Sea of Japan.
Kim submitted a related petition on ‘We the People,’ a civil petition Web site operated by the White House, earlier in March and collected more than 100-thousand signatures. Kim then submitted another petition after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said, in response to Kim’s first petition, that it is longstanding U.S. policy to refer to each sea or ocean by a single name, hinting that the U.S. doesn’t want to get involved in the labeling issue.
During the upcoming talks, Kim is expected to request the U.S. government to organize a debate on the name issue involving historians, educational experts and U.S. government officials.