Japan protests new UN world map over disputed Kuril Islands, but stays silent on East Sea

Japan, which voted in favor of the UN General Assembly's adoption of a new world map, is now demanding a revision after finding that the disputed Kuril Islands are shaded the same color as Russian territory on the map. The same map labels the Donghae only as the "Sea of Japan" and omits Dokdo entirely.

According to the Guardian and ABC News on Thursday (local time), Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a regular briefing that day that the Equal Earth map "contains expressions that contradict the Japanese government's position."

"We have lodged a protest with the operator of the map website through diplomatic channels and demanded that this expression be corrected," he said. "We must prevent the spread of misunderstanding about our territory and place names."

At issue are four islands in the southern Kurils, which Japan calls its "Northern Territories" and claims as its own. The Soviet Union occupied the islands in 1945, and Russia has controlled them ever since.

Japan was one of 164 countries that voted in favor of the map at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 4. The UN resolution recommends that governments, educational institutions, international organizations and technology companies adopt the Equal Earth projection, which accurately reflects land area, instead of the Mercator projection, which exaggerates the size of regions at high latitudes.

The English, Chinese and Japanese versions of the Equal Earth map label the Donghae only as the "Sea of Japan" and leave out Dokdo altogether. Only the Korean-language version, produced by the cyber diplomacy group VANK and posted on the official site in June, marks both the Donghae and Dokdo.

VANK sent a letter of protest to the Equal Earth secretariat on Thursday, demanding that the Donghae designation and Dokdo be reflected in the other language versions as well.

"We have asked that the 'Sea of Japan' label in the non-Korean versions be changed to the Donghae and that Dokdo be added, but this has not yet been accepted," said Park Ki-tae, head of VANK. "Since the Equal Earth projection was created to prioritize accurate land area, it has many gaps when it comes to how place names are marked."

"A map created to restore Africa's true size should not repeat yet another distortion involving the Donghae and Dokdo," Park said. "Now, before it spreads worldwide, is the golden hour to fix this."

Meanwhile, Japan continues to repeat its baseless claim that Dokdo is its own territory.