Conflicts, names and sea space: A Review of the 22nd International Seminar on Sea Names

This critical commentary and special section editorial reflects on the recent twenty- second installment of the International Seminar on Sea Names held from 23–26 october 2016 in Jeju Island, South Korea. A brief history of the seminar series is proffered in light of several of the evolving political and academic developments that surround the East Sea–Sea of Japan naming dispute. The three papers in the special section are summarised in terms of their relevance to a Korean and international take on this germane Northeast Asian maritime and territorial issue. In summary, the papers and the seminar series are submitted as a key intellectual environment where future inroads into critical political and maritime toponymy and geography, sea and island toponymy, and sea and island studies in general can be examined and teased out.