Korea`s Exercise of Sovereign Rights over Dokdo and its Marginal Seas

The 1952 Korean Proclamation of the Rhee Line surrounding the Korean peninsula with several straight lines was similar to the regime of the EEZ, as it comprised the water-column and the seabed of the adjacent seas up to the possible maximum outer-limits. It was soon vehemently criticized by Japan, as it would drive out incoming Japanese fishermen from the declared seas. Japan also claimed the ownership of the islet of Dokdo or Takeshima, which was included in the Rhee Line, asserting that it used to be a Japanese territory before the 1910 annexation. Protracted negotiations over a decade produced the 1965 Japan/ Korea Fisheries Agreement, wherein Korea allowed the Japanese fishermen to fish in the entire Korean waters beyond 12 mile exclusive zone. As a result, the Rhee Line was no longer to be applicable to the Japanese fishermen. Dokdo was left without any 12 mile exclusive zone in the hazy zone of joint fisheries resources survey outside of the zone of joint fisheries resources preservation. In the 1999 Japan/Korea Fisheries Agreement, Dokdo was to be located in the nameless zone of joint management of fisheries, influenced by the provisional arrangement of a practical nature as provided in Articles 74 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. There was a vehement criticism over such an arrangement in Korea, because the rocky islet of Dokdo has not been regarded as a disputed one by Korea due to the solid evidential facts and the sound legal bases. South Korea had to accept such an arrangement unwillingly while she was under IMF management when it needed Japans help during the financial crisis. It had to persuade the angry Koreans saying that the nameless interme-...이 論文을 위하여 서울大學校 法學發展財團 出捐 法學硏究所 基金의 2008學年度 學術 硏究費 支援이 있었다