The war between Korea and Japan over the name of the sea separating the two countries is shifting into a new phase as the International Hydrographic Organization, the global authority on the names and locations of seas and oceans, has delayed a decision on the naming dispute to 2017.

The IHO held a general meeting in Monaco to update its publication dubbed “Limits of Oceans and Seas,” a document considered the most authoritative when it comes to oceanic boundaries and names. Better known as S-23, the publication, however, is ridden with errors as it was first published in 1929 and last updated in 1953.

The old document refers to the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan as the Sea of Japan, a name Japan created in the 1920s for registration with the IHO. At the time Korea lost its sovereignty to Japan and had no way to let the inter-governmental organization know that the sea had been called by its Korean appellation of the East Sea from ancient times.

At the Monaco meeting, Korea proposed that the two names be put side by side in the revised edition of the IHO charts, while Japan insisted on retaining the current single name.

As delegates from the member countries were divided over the matter, the IHO chose to put off a decision to its next general meeting.

The outcome cannot be seen as an outright victory for Korea as it did not prevail at the conference. Yet it can claim to have gained some ground in its battle against Japan.

On Wednesday, delegates voted on the Japanese proposal that the IHO publication be partially updated, leaving the disputed sea name as it is as no agreement on it has been reached.

This proposal, however, failed to win support from any of the 78 member countries except Japan. The Korean delegation interpreted this outcome as suggesting that it has become impossible for Japan to update S-23 in a way that it wants it to be updated.

The Korean delegation stopped short of putting its own proposal to a vote because it wanted to wait until enough support has been secured. Yet it claimed that the tide has definitely begun to shift in Korea’s favor.

However, updating S-23 could become a moot issue five years later as electronic navigational charts are already more widely used than the outdated and inaccurate print publication. S-23 has lost much of its authority and by the time the next IHO meeting is held, it could have fallen into disuse.

For electronic charts, the authority to determine the name of a particular sea area is not vested in the IHO. The right has been transferred to each country that produces the charts. This means the dispute over what to call the sea between Korea and Japan will be determined in the marketplace.

In the global market for electronic charts, Korean-made charts that refer to the disputed maritime area as the East Sea are in competition with Japanese products that call the area the Sea of Japan.

This competition will be determined by which country dominates the global market. To win this race, Korea needs to enhance the quality of its electronic charts. Korea stands a good chance of emerging as the winner as its technology in this field is world-class.