The meeting turned down both the proposal for voting for the unilateral designation of the above-said sea as the "Sea of Japan" and the proposal for modifying the designation according to the separately marked sea in the international hydrographic chart.

It was quite natural that Japan's brigandish call for unilaterally marking the sea was turned down by the international community.

Japan's claim that the East Sea of Korea should be marked as the "Sea of Japan" is a revelation of its undisguised ambition for militarist reinvasion as it is a shameless distortion of history in utter disregard of principles of historicism and objective facts.

The East Sea has always been part of the inviolable territorial waters of the Korean nation.

Its ancestors who created a history spanning 5 000 years explored the East Sea of Korea and named it "Korean Sea", "East Sea of Korea" from ancient times much earlier than the time when a country named "Japan" appeared on its archipelago.

This is clearly registered in historical documents of Korea including "Samguksagi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms)" and engraved on the monument at the Mausoleum of King Kwanggaetho erected in 414.

Ancient documents and maps published by foreign explorers and geographers described the East Sea as "Korean Sea", "East Sea of Korea."

Newly discovered in Japan prior to the meeting was a map drawn by a European explorer and cartographer and printed in 1646. This map also marks the sea claimed by Japan as "Korean Sea".

As a lot of old maps published in Japan and Europe show, the marking of the "Sea of Japan" denotes waters east of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu of Japan, in other words, waters towards the Pacific, east of Japanese archipelago only.

Marking the East Sea of Korea as the "Sea of Japan" was a product of the Japanese imperialists' policy of colonial rule over Korea in the last century.

After occupying Korea by force of arms, the Japanese imperialists registered Korean sea as the "Sea of Japan" in the IHO in 1929 by taking advantage of its position as a suzerain state, paving the way for unreasonably marking the sea in the international hydrographic chart.

The Japanese imperialists' aggression against Korea was illegal and all premises for brigandish designation of the "Sea of Japan" were removed along with their defeat. Therefore, the said designation should have been abrogated at that time.

Japan's above-said claim is no more than sheer sophism in the light of the present international practice and principles governing the marking of the sea.

It is international practice to mark a sea according to its geographical situation with a continent as a standard and designate a sea according to the names of the peninsula and the country on it in case of the sea between a peninsula and islands.

Nevertheless, the Japanese reactionaries are persistently insisting on the designation of the "Sea of Japan." This is prompted by their ulterior design to justify the hideous crimes perpetrated by the Japanese imperialists in Korea in the last century, stage a comeback to Korea and, for the present, grab the East Sea of Korea and Tok Islets in its territorial waters.

Japan's pronounced assertion for the designation of the "Sea of Japan" and moves to seizure Tok Islets are calling back the departed soul of the Japanese imperialists, robbers.

Japan's bid to repeat the Japanese imperialists' blood-stained history of aggression which brought so horrible disasters and misfortune to the peoples in Korea and other Asian countries is bound to go bust in face of bitterer rebuff and denunciation by all Koreans and the international community.