Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The state Senate in the U.S. state of Virginia has passed a resolution
which identifies the body of water between Korea and Japan as the
Korean name 'East Sea', as well as Japan's name 'Sea of Japan.'
Tokyo is unhappy with the development and has made its feelings clear
on the matter. Ji Myung-kil has more.
A legislative panel at the Virginia House of Delegates passed the 'East
Sea' bill on Thursday which requires Virginia textbooks to use the
Korean name 'East Sea' as well as Japan's name 'Sea of Japan.'
The 5 to 4 vote in the education subcommittee kept alive the Korean-
American community's hopes that Virginia will become the first U.S. state
to introduce legislation to identify the body of water between Korea and
Japan as the East Sea.
"Speaker of the House spoke up the other day among all our members
and said this was an important bill to pass we recognize the importance
of the Korean-American community to Virginia and because we
recognize this bill is the right thing to do."
The bill now heads to the full House Education Committee and if the
legislation passes the House, the General Assembly will send it to
Governor Terry McAuliffe for his signature. McAuliffe said Thursday that, if the bill
makes it to his desk, he would
sign it. He made a campaign pledge to support the move
in a bid to gain votes
from ethnic Koreans living in the state. But McAuliffe may face an uphill battle as
the Japanese Embassy in
Washington is ramping up pressure on him. The embassy says, by signing the bill, Japan
might choose to stop
investing so much in Virginia. Japan has invested almost one billion dollars
in the state over the past
five years. Meanwhile, the world's largest comic strip
and cartoon festival which
opened in France on Thursday, exhibited Korean cartoons depicting the
Japanese military's wartime use of sex slaves, or as they are sometimes
known as 'comfort women.' Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News.