Spot and Fix Mistakes about Korea

North Korea's recent high public profile has refreshed its image as the crazy uncle to the supposedly Westernised, techy, line-towing, and entirely friendly South. That said, the government of the latter is not entirely free of nutty, if less security-threatening, machinations. The issue of what the sea between Korea and Japan ought to be called has been bubbling on for many a year, with Korea claiming that it has been known as the East Sea since 59 B.C. and that Japan forced "Sea of Japan" on the world during its imperialist phase. It didn't (European explorers who drew the first maps adopted the name, and it stuck), but that hasn't stopped the Korean government pinching a move from several activist groups with its "Spot and Fix Mistakes about Korea" contest, which encourages conscientious citizens to email sites that diss or misrepresent the ROK to inform them of their folly, and then notify korea.net that they have done so. Given that one can win "a laptop, a PDA, or an mp3 player!" for doing so, one wonders how many of the email writers are motivated by patriotic pride and how many by the lure of free consumer goods.