• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.175-186
• /
• 2006

There are disputes for oil and gas development between China and Japan in the East China Sea. These involve the area where China is already carrying out activities of oil and gas development and where Japan is proclaiming its EEZ. China insists that the Chinese activities on oil and gas development area are being carried out within the Chinese jurisdictional waters even if the median line principle of Japanese proclamation is applied in delimitation. Indeed, the permit for Japanese development is causing disputes between China and Japan because its permit allows development in the waters adjacent to Chinese development area. h the event, the core of this dispute around the oil and gas field in the East China Sea relates to issues of maritime boundary delimitation and issues of resources acquisition with both states. Chinese policy on oil and gas development is to first consider development issues in accordance with a median line principle where waters toward to China from the median line should be developed by China and the area toward Japan from the median line within the Chinese continental shelf should be jointly developed. However, the Japanese position is that the East China Sea should be jointly developed, and Japan hopes to eventually convince China to accept its median line delimitation. With on-going development of such issues, Korea should establish a strategy of negotiation based on analyses of resource distributional conditions and other strategic factors in the Korean delimitation area. In particular, Korea should prepare and make the best use of joint development zone established in an agreement between the ROK and Japan concerning the development of the southern part of continental shelf adjacent to both states.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
• /
• 2017.11a
• /
• pp.281-281
• /
• 2017

• Strategy21
• /
• s.37
• /
• pp.193-241
• /
• 2015

China, Japan and Korea are the world's top 10 energy consumers, and so very interested in the development of seabed hydrocarbon resources in order to meet their energy demands. The East China Sea is the tri-junction area where three countries' entitlements on the maritime boundaries are overlapped. There are abundant oil reserves in the East China Sea, and therefore competitions among countries are growing to get control of them. Although these countries have concluded the bilateral agreements to jointly develop resources in the East China Sea, they do not function as well. Because joint development and management of seabed petroleum resources can lead to stable development system, and to lower possibility of legal and political disputes, the needs for joint development agreement among three countries are urgent. Meanwhile, Northeast Asian seas are semi-closed seas, which are geographically closed and vulnerable to marine pollution. Moreover there are a lot of nuclear power plants in coastal area, and seabed petroleum resources are being developed. So it is likely to occur nuclear and oil spill accidents. Fukushima nuclear disaster and Bohai Bay oil spill accident in 2011 are the cases to exhibit the potential of major marine pollution accidents in this area. It is anticipated that the risks become higher because power plants and offshore oil platforms are extending gradually. Therefore, the ways to seek the joint marine environmental protection agreement focused on regulation of nuclear power plant and offshore oil platform have to be considered. In this paper, we try to find the way to make joint development and joint environmental protection agreement in Northeast Asian seas. We concentrate on the measure to drive joint development of seabed petroleum deposits in East China Sea's overlap area, despite of maritime delimitation and territorial disputes, and we try to drive joint marine environmental protection system to respond to marine pollution and accidents due to offshore oil platform and nuclear power plants. Through these consideration, we seek solutions to deal with lack of energy, disputes of maritime territorial and boundary delimitation, and marine pollution in Northeast Asia.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry, and Cartography Conference
• /
• 2007.04a
• /
• pp.11-16
• /
• 2007

Since public awareness on the importance of sea is increasing, a number of states have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. However several problems on marine boundary making are raising due to the ambiguity of law and importance of sea area. The purpose of this study is to find a logical principal through overall consideration on decision of baseline points which is a criteria of maritime boundary delimitation. Accordingly, this paper considers the current status, problems and measures for marine boundary making and then presents an alternative on it.

• Strategy21
• /
• s.38
• /
• pp.13-46
• /
• 2015

Dokdo issue reaches beyond economic and security interest to Koreans, as it is regarded as symbol of her independence. Albeit the fact that Japan has merely no legitimate title over Dokdo, Japan has been tenaciously insisting their jurisdiction over Dokdo since the independence of Korea. Under such circumstances, public outrage towards Japan is most certainly understandable. Yet, mere outrage itself, lacking in logic and factual grounds, can contribute little if not any, to the desirable solution of the problem. Precedents reveal that dealing maritime issues amid lack of profound understanding in international law has often led to undesirable results, such as the inclusion of Dokdo in the Joint Management Fisheries Zone in 1999 Korea-Japan Fisheries Agreement. In a sense, adroit use of international law is a critical element in preserving Korea's sovereign rights against persistent Japanese plans to rob Dokdo once again. The Dokdo issue is inextricably bound to international law; the legal status of Dokdo as island, the equitable solution of maritime boundary delimitation and effective control, existence of dispute. Yet, the public policies and arguments made by pundits are generally in lack of understanding in international law. It is now the time for Korea to commence on long-term cross-academia / department plans to establish Dokdo strategy as part of the nationwide maritime strategy effectively using international law as its stronghold.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.31-50
• /
• 2009

The demarcation of Maritime Boundary is directly related to the expansion of jurisdiction and the securing of resources. Resource diplomacies of the three countries Korea, China and Japan represent a major task for the national administrations : to secure resources as well as to stablize and sustain resources for future national economies. At the sea area around Korea as well, countries are fiercely competing to secure resources and to expand jurisdiction. This is evidenced by the fact that various principles and logics which are beneficial to each own country are presented through international precedents, agreement between countries and the theories of the international law scholars. They say that the conclusion of demarcation of maritime boundary for the Yellow Sea would be easy from the point that there is no dispute related to island dominion in the waters of the Korean Peninsula especially the Yellow Sea, but still we need to have a strategic approach to this issue from the point that the factors used for claiming maritime boundaries may expand the waters of a country over much. For example, the continental shelf boundary in consideration of the distribution of sedimentary deposits in the Yellow Sea which is being raised by China began from the hypothesis that the inflow of sedimentary deposits to the Yellow Sea through the rivers of China represents absolute majority, but the results of the latest studies raised questions on the hypothesis. Especially, the studies done by Martin and Yang revealed that the inflow of sedimentary deposits to the Yellow Sea from the Yellow River is approximately less than 1% of total sedimentary deposits in the Yellow Sea, and also the result of analysis on the causes and counter policy measures on the environment of Bohai, China supports the reliability of the results of such studies. From a legal aspect, the sedimentary deposits of rivers which are claimed by China represent extremely weak ground for the claim for the title of the continental shelf. The siltline claimed by China seems to be based on the Article 76-4-(a)(i) of UNCLOS. This is, however, not the definition on the title of the continental shelf but it is only a technical formula to utilize in a case where a country desires to expand the continental shelf to over 200 nautical miles. Scientific and Technical Guidelines of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf also confirm this point through the Article 2.1.2 of the Guideline. The only case in which sedimentary deposits of rivers were referred to as concrete demarcation of maritime boundary was in the which was concluded in 1986 between India and Myanmar at the Andaman Sea. In the said case, India acknowledged the boundary up to the isobath of 200m which Myanmar claimed based on the sedimentary deposits of the Irrawaddy River. It has limits as a case for acknowledging the sedimentary deposits, however, because in fact India's acknowledgment was made in exchange for the condition that Myanmar gave up the dominion of two islands which they had been claiming from India up until that time.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.427-437
• /
• 2010

The Korean Government is trying to construct an ocean research station in Dokdo's water. The station would be the third ocean research station following the Ieodo station and the Gageocho station. Although the new station would served as a scientific research base for peaceful and academic purposes, the construction of the station will almost certainly lead to a diplomatic dispute between Japan and Korea in the near future due to the disputed ownership of the island. In light of the diplomatic protests against the construction of the Ieodo station by the Chinese Government, various domestic and international legal issues which could be raised regarding the construction of the Dokdo station need to be reviewed. Therefore, this article reviews the international legal status of the station and the rights and duties pertaining to its construction, investigates the domestic legal grounds relating to the construction and operation of the marine scientific installation, evaluates the international legal impacts of the construction on the expansion of maritime jurisdiction, the effective control on Dokdo and the negotiations on maritime boundary delimitation, and finally draws conclusions on the future activities of the Korean Government for the construction and operation of the Dokdo Ocean Research Station.

• Proceedings of the Korean Association of Geographic Inforamtion Studies Conference
• /
• 2003.04a
• /
• pp.56-61
• /
• 2003

해양경계 획선은 해양 국가들 사이의 협상 중 매우 중요한 쟁점이었다. 각각의 협상의 문제는 공평의 법적 원칙이 엄격하게' 적용되는 국제적 경계를 결정하는 것이다. 하나의 공식이 각국의 경제적, 지형적 그리고 주위요소와의 전략적 경우에 모두 적용될 수 없기 때문에 어떠한 특별한 방법이 정해지지 않았다. 그러나 균등한 경계를 얻기 위한 몇 가지 지침이 1953년부터 International Law Commission(ILC)에 의해 제안되었다 이 지침들 중에 하나는 등거리 원칙(the principle of equidistant)에 의거한 일반적인 규칙을 사용한다. 이 등거리 원칙은 경계상의 모든 점들은 해안의 한 폭에서 측정된 기준선(baseline)상의 최근접점에서 항상 등거리에 있어야 한다. 이 원칙을 구현하기 위한 여러 가지 기하학적 방법이 적용되어왔다. 본 연구에서는 등거리 원칙을 기본으로 하는 알고리즘 중 광범위하게 사용되고 있는 Two-Point 알고리즘과 Three-Point 알고리즘을 정립한 후, 이 알고리즘 결과를 확인할 수 있는 해양경계 획선 프로그램을 웹으로 구현하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.147-159
• /
• 2023

Sea level rise due to climate change is an increasing concern for the international community, and especially for coastal States. In case of regression of the coastal line or inundations of maritime features, including islands, the questions of whether coastal States are under an obligation to redraw their baseline and the outer limits of their maritime jurisdiction and of whether the existing maritime boundary treaties should be terminated are raised. This article reviews the arguments raised by the Small Island Developing States, International Law Association, and International Law Commission and suggests a solution within the current legal framework of the Law of the Sea through an interpretation of the existing provisions of the UNCLOS focusing on the legal issues relating to the Law of the Sea.

• Maritime Security
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.83-113
• /
• 2022

Although China's maritime militia has not been well known despite its long history, it is recently emerging as a serious threat to maritime security, causing neighboring countries' security concerns due to the growing number of maritime disputes with China. In this regard, it is now time to clearly define the true nature of the Chinese maritime militia. A close look at the organization and roles of the Chinese maritime militia reveals that it is an organization that is systematically managed and operated by the Chinese government and the People's Liberation Army of China. Its role is to serve the purpose of "contributing to the protection and expansion of China's marine interests." In addition, the threat factors of the Chinese maritime militia were analyzed by examining the cases of maritime disputes between the Chinese maritime militia and neighboring countries. First, the Chinese maritime militia has implemented the "Gray Zone Strategy." Second, it is a systematic organization supported by the Chinese government and the People's Liberation Army. Third, it is a maritime power that cannot be ignored as the world's largest militia organization. Fourth, it has a strategic flexibility that enables the execution of the dual mission of working for a living such as commercial fishing and serving in the maritime militia. The threats of the Chinese maritime militia are not limited to Southeast Asian countries located in the South China Sea. This is also the case in Korea as the country cannot avoid maritime disputes with China such as the Ieodo issue and the boundary delimitation of the West Sea. Accordingly, this study was focused on presenting a predictable scenario and countermeasures based on the analysis through a scenario technique with respect to the two cases that are most likely to occur in Korea-China relations. Finally, beyond identifying the nature of the Chinese maritime militia, this study takes a further step to share considerations as to how the organization may operate and develop in the future and how we can cope with its moves.