• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.41 no.5 s.116
• /
• pp.630-638
• /
• 2006

This paper reviews international practices of naming undersea features, centered on SCUFN (Sub-Committee on Undersea Feature Names), and draws some implications for the newly announced undersea feature names in East Sea. Even though the history of the activities of naming undersea features in Korea is not long, recent years have witnessed considerable progress in finding and naming undersea features. In view of the guidelines for naming undersea features by SCUFN, it is evaluated that most of these names have been appropriately selected. But more justification should be made for specific terms using historical persons, symbolic term, and for two names proposed for those already listed in the Gazetteer. For further works on naming undersea features, three steps are suggested: first, conducting surveys and accumulating data on undersea features, second, naming and announcing newly found features and publicizing them, and third, making attempts to achieve international standardization of domestically announced names.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.41 no.5 s.116
• /
• pp.623-629
• /
• 2006

At present, 3 names about undersea features in the East Sea - Korean Plateau, Tsushima Basin, Syun-yo Bank - are listed on Gazetteer Any explanations are not given for registration of these names. Just it seems that the names written on International marine chart(INT 511) were recorded to Gazetteer. Furthermore Tsushima Basin and Syun-yo Bank have no oceanographic, geologic reason and geographical relevance, and the names should be replaced by Ulleung Basin and Isabu Tablemount, respectively, that is deeply related to geographical relevance and genetic origin.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.914-928
• /
• 2013

Establishment of limits and names for oceans and seas is necessary for a safety of navigation. Even if there are no national and international standard for the delimitation of sea boundaries, we can take guidelines for the delimitation of sea boundaries through the analysis of IHO official publications, Limits and Names for Oceans and Sea; S-23. This paper shows the changes of the spatial limit of seas since first edition publication, and the standards for a delimitation of oceans and seas were analyzed using S-23 4th edition draft(2002) in terms of physical geographic features. The generic terms of S-23 include Ocean, Sea, Channel, Passage, Strait, Sound, Gulf, Bay and Bight, and each generic term shows hierarchical structures. Several seas show different characteristics compared with definitions of IHO dictionary. Sea boundaries are delimited by longitude and latitude, cape, river mouth, sandbar, and so on. Undersea features such as a shelf, trench, trough, rise, bank and reef are also important features for delimitation of sea boundary. Especially, seas that are delimited by undersea feature are mainly located Arctic and Southern ocean area in S-23 4th edition. Advanced knowledge of marine science with a technical advance might affect to delimit for sea boundary.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.125-151
• /
• 2018

We grouped the names attributed to the seas surrounding the Korean Peninsula in maps published in two major Korean ocean and fisheries science journals over the period from 1998 to 2017: the Journal of the Korean Society of Oceanography (The Sea) and the Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science (KFAS). The names attributed to these seas in maps of journal paper broadly were classified into three groupings: (1) East Sea and Yellow Sea; (2) East Sea, Yellow Sea, and South Sea; or (3) East Sea, West Sea and South Sea. The name 'East Sea' was dominantly used for the waters between Korea and Japan. In contrast, the water between Korea and China has been mostly labelled as 'Yellow Sea' but sometimes labelled as 'West Sea'. The waters between the south coast of Korea and Kyushu, Japan were labelled as either 'Korea Strait' or 'South Sea'. This analysis on sea names in the maps of 'The Sea' and 'KFAS' reveals that domestic researchers frequently mix geographical and international names when referring to the waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula. These inconsistencies provide the motivation for the development of a basic unifying guideline for naming the seas surrounding the Korean Peninsula. With respect to this, we recommend the use of separate names for the marginal seas between continental landmasses and/or islands versus for the coastal waters surrounding Korea. For the marginal seas, the internationally recognized names are recommended to be used: East Sea; Yellow Sea; Korea Strait; and East China Sea. While for coastal seas, including Korea's territorial sea, the following geographical nomenclature is suggested to differentiate them from the marginal sea names: Coastal Sea off the East Coast of Korea (or the East Korea Coastal Zone), Coastal Sea off the South Coast of Korea (or the South Coastal Zone of Korea), and Coastal Sea off the West Coast of Korea (or the West Korea Coastal Zone). Further, for small or specific study areas, the local region names, district names, the sea names and the undersea feature names can be used on the maps.