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S Korea to submit
seabed claim to UN, report says
A PRIZED POSSESSION: Seoul is expected to submit
a document to the UN claiming that the country¡¦s continental shelf extends as
far as the Okinawa Trough
Reuters, SEOUL
South Korea will submit a claim to an extended portion of seabed beyond its
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the East China Sea to a UN body this year,
media reported yesterday, a move that could rekindle territorial disputes with
China and Japan.
The South Korean government will submit an official document to claim the
extended EEZ portion to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
(CLCS) by the end of this year, the Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified
government official as saying.
¡§In order to submit an official document to the UN CLCS, the government is
reviewing and processing related data,¡¨ the official was quoted by Yonhap as
saying.
In the document, Seoul is expected to claim that the Korean Peninsula¡¦s
naturally extended continental shelf stretches to the Okinawa Trough in the East
China Sea. It means the country¡¦s statutory EEZ stretches beyond 200 nautical
miles (370km).
The disputed area in the East China Sea is believed to contain natural gas and
oil deposits.
The government official was quoted as saying the formal claim to the UN
commission this time is likely to prompt Beijing and Tokyo to take similar
steps, reigniting fierce disputes among the Asian neighbors.
Comments from government officials were not immediately available.
In 2009, South Korea lodged a similar claim, not in an official form, but in a
preliminary information submission with the UN commission, a panel created under
the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to review and certify the legitimacy of
such sea territorial claims.
China has claimed the Okinawa Trough, saying the trough is part of its natural
continental shelf extension.
South Korea is scheduled to hold working-level meetings with China and Japan,
separately, to discuss issues on the sea border demarcation later this year.
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