Journal of the Korean Geographical Society ISSN:1225-6633(Print) 대한지리학회지

In recent academic debates within the UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names, two contrasting views evolved as regards to the status of the names of transboundary features or features beyond a single sovereignty. The partial view posits that a name is an endonym only for those portions of a feature where the name corresponds to the language used while the whole view argues that a name in its official language is an endonym for the whole feature. In either of these views, the name East Sea should be given due respect, for the Korean territorial waters at least or as an endonym for the entire sea. This paper supports the partial view that a geographical feature can be separated and each separated portion can have different name forms and status. Regarding the separation of a feature, the limits to which local people perceive as ‘their’ sea should be used. The name East Sea is proposed as the translated form of an endonym Donghae.