Seoul, Beijing hold EEZ talks Tuesday

The vice foreign ministers of South Korea and China will hold maritime demarcation talks in Seoul on Tuesday for the first time since 2008, as the two neighbors remain poles apart over how to address their overlapping exclusive economic zones.

The talks were arranged after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed the early resumption of the official talks during his summit with President Park Geun-hye in Seoul on Oct. 31. 

The talks, which used to be director-general-level, have been elevated to the vice minister level, underscoring the two governments’ will to address a source of friction in the evolving bilateral relationship.

Seoul’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will lead the South Korean side at the talks, while his Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenmin will head the Chinese side.

The two sides have held 14 rounds of negotiations over the EEZ between 1996 and 2008. But the negotiations have yielded little progress with both sides refusing to budge from their stance.

The EEZ is a sea zone over which a country has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources. It stretches out to 200 nautical miles from the coastline. Once demarcated, it is hard to revise the zone, a reason why both sides in the EEZ negotiations are adamant in their positions.

Seoul has so far demanded that the EEZ be demarcated by drawing a median line. However, Beijing has argued that the coasts and the population along them must be taken into account proportionately in EEZ demarcation.

Observers predicted that the negotiations would be tough and protracted as China is not expected to make any concessions in the negotiations considering that it has been intent on securing energy and maritime resources to power its economy. 

“China has been focusing on securing more energy and resources thought to be stored in its continental shelf. Thus, it is unlikely to budge from its position,” said international law professor Kang Hyo-baik of Kyung Hee University, noting that the EEZ talks between Seoul and Beijing would be an uphill battle. 

One major bone of contention is the claims by both countries on Ieodo Island. 

Ieodo is 4.6 meters below sea level south of Jejudo Island and has long been a source of tension between the two neighbors. 

Although a reef cannot be the subject of territorial dispute under U.N. maritime law, the Seoul government believes that the rock belongs to it as the reef and its adjoining waters are part of its continental shelf.

Seoul also says it is within its EEZ, given that it is located 149 kilometers southwest of Korea’s southernmost island of Marado. China’s nearest island of Tongdao is 247 kilometers away.

In 2003, Seoul built the Ocean Research Station on Ieodo to measure ocean currents and accumulate data for weather forecasting, fishery and environmental protection, and prevention of natural disasters such as tidal waves and tropical storms. 

China calls Korea’s activities on the rock illegal.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)