Write a letter that calls for the correction of an erroneous description of Korean territory and win a prize.

The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOIS) has joined hands with the Voluntary Agency of Korea Network (VANK) to launch a letter-writing campaign to urge the world to use the correct terms “Dokdo” for the easternmost island of the Korean Peninsula and “Donghae” or “East Sea” for the body of water to the east of the Korean Peninsula.

Both the Korean island Dokdo and the East Sea/Donghae have been referred frequently by Japanese names, “Takeshima” and “Sea of Japan.” For the past few decades this has caused widespread misunderstanding regarding the rightful ownership of the island and the history of the region.

This letter-writing campaign is to remind people of the widespread inaccuracy of geographical terms concerning Korea, which continue to be repeated on websites, in books and on maps published abroad. The campaign seeks ways to develop more persuasive letters that can better argue Korea's position abroad when writing a letter of correction to textbook makers, cartographers and global institutions. The letter should be able to move people's hearts through logical reasoning.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism – to which KOIS belongs – also hopes to see participation by more young people among internet users and hopes that the event will inspire many global websites to correct the error in their introduction of Korea or East Asia as a whole.

The results of the letter writing event will be announced at 5p.m. Dec. 4. The top 50 participants, including the grand prize winner, will receive prizes like a laptop computer, portable media player, and MP3 player. The ministry has decided to use the contents of model letters as promotional materials for Dokdo and the East Sea in the future. The new materials will be distributed to embassies, libraries, textbook and encyclopedia publishing companies and other relevant organizations later on.

The Korean campaign website can be found here. Non-Korean readers can click here to write your letter.

Those wishing to use this opportunity to learn more about Dokdo and the East Sea issue can also visit other websites, such as that of the Dokdo Research Institute, Northeast Asian History Foundation or Dokdo and East Sea by Korea PR Specialist Seo Kyung-deok, noted for his advertisements in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other big name newspapers around the world.

For more details call: 02-398-1987 (Korean only)

By Kim Hee-sung
Korea.net Staff Writer