Fri, July 06, 2012
By Zhao Wei, Sina English
South Korea plans to seek a U.N. recommendation that the outer limit of its continental shelf go beyond part of an East China Sea area jointly developed with Japan and that it have the right to develop that part on its own, while Japan also claims the same area in the region.
Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, South Korea plans to submit a petition to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf that it recommend Seoul establish its continental shelf outer limit beyond 200 nautical miles, Seoul said.
Waters around south of the island of Jeju are known for rich reserves of such resources as oil and natural gas. In early 1974, Japan and South Korea defined a so called “Japan-Korea Joint Development Zone” (about 8 million square kilometers) without permission of China, and signed the Japan-Korea Joint Development Agreements.
Chinese Foreign Ministry pointed out that such an action is a violation of China's territorial integrity and sovereignty. In accordance with the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the East China Sea continental shelf is the natural extension of the Chinese continental territory to the sea. Therefore, this region belongs to China indisputably.
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