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By Aurora de Peralta
Richmond, VA – Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed the East Sea bill into law, initiating a change in state textbooks that has pitted Northern Virginia’s Korean American community against the government of Japan and other minority groups.
McAuliffe (D) signed the bill on March 31, which requires all textbooks approved by the Virginia Board of Education after July 1 to note that the Sea of Japan is also known as the East Sea.
Northern Virginian’s Korean American community pushed for the bill over adamant objections from Japan. Korean Americans see the standardized name, Sea of Japan, as a remnant of Japan’s imperialistic past. The community’s view reflects South Korea’s longstanding position that the “East Sea” should be the legitimized name of the body of water.
During last year’s governor’s race, the community asked McAuliffe to pledge support for the legislation. McAuliffe obliged.
But the Japanese Embassy expressed its objections soon after McAuliffe’s re-election, warning that the proposed textbook change could jeopardize economic ties between the commonwealth and Japan, one of Virginia’s major trading partners and sources of foreign investment.
In a meeting with McAuliffe, Japanese ambassador Kenichiro Sasae said that the name “Sea of Japan” is the only internationally recognized name for the body of water.
The Virginia African American community also opposed the bill. Certain black legislators said that the bill ignored other problems with Virginia textbooks with respect to African American and Native American history.
Caught between conflicting interests of U.S. minority groups, legislators attempted to derail the bill before McAuliffe could sign it into law. But a Senate version of the bill made it to McAuliffe’s desk.
The “East Sea” name recognition is the first of its kind for a U.S. state. Activists in other states have indicated intentions to promote the change, but the U.S. federal government has said that it will continue to only use the globally-recognized name “Sea of Japan.”
