US state of Virginia sides with Seoul in dispute with Tokyo over sea name

A legislative committee in the US state of Virginia has passed a bill that would require the stretch of water between Japan and the Korean peninsula to be identified in school books as both the Sea of Japan and the East Sea.

A similar bill, drafted by Democratic senator Dave Marsden, was voted down last year. There has been extensive lobbying on the issue in the state over the last year by the Voice of Korean Americans.

The campaign is an extension of Seoul's diplomatic initiative on the issue, as well as its efforts to reinforce its sovereignty over the islands of Dokdo, which are defended by South Korean police but are claimed by Japan, where the two rocky islets are known as Takeshima.

Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Japan's Fukui Prefectural University, said the decision by the Virginia legislature was "not constructive for US-Japan relations".

"The Sea of Japan has been established in history as the name of this stretch of water and the whole world recognises it as such," he said.

Shimada added that Korea insisted on referring to the Tsushima Strait, which separates the tip of the Korean peninsula from Japan, as the "Korean Straits" but that Tokyo had made no diplomatic protest about it.

"South Korea is both too aggressive and too sensitive," he said. "It's actually a bit embarrassing."