Vice FM notes need to resume talks with Japan on sea boundaries under UN framework

Korea should resume the dialogue channel with Japan on the delimitation of sea boundaries under the relevant U.N. framework, a senior Seoul diplomat has said, as a bilateral agreement on continental shelf boundaries expired earlier this year. Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jina made the remark at an international conference on Tuesday, saying that the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) serves as an essential framework governing Korea's maritime relations. "There is a need to restore dialogue with Japan on maritime boundary issues within the UNCLOS framework," she said at the conference co-hosted by the foreign ministry and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. "In the waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula, where maritime entitlements overlap with neighboring countries, we require cooperation, mutual understanding and solutions based on international law," she said. Kim's remarks appear to refer to the joint development zone (JDZ) agreement between Korea and Japan on determining the continental shelf boundaries in the East China Sea, which expired in June thisWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times