hankyoreh

By Park Byung-soo Senior staff writer and Park Min-hee Beijing correspondent

A territorial claim by China to Ieo-do, a reef island below sea level, off the southern coast of Jeju, has created a diplomatic flap between Seoul and Beijing.

Speaking in a Mar. 3 interview with the Xinhua news agency, Liu Xigui, director of China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA), said Ieo-do fell within Chinese waters and was included among locations for regular patrolling by the Chinese navy and air force.

Liu explained that the SOA had established a system of regular patrolling of Chinese waters by sea and air vessels in order to “guard China‘s maritime interests and uphold the law,” and that Suyan Rock, the Chinese name for Ieo-do, fell within Chinese jurisdiction.

A South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State (MOFAT) official said Sunday that the head of the ministry’s international law office would be contacting the state affairs chief at the Chinese embassy Monday to confirm the statement and investigate the context in which it was made.

“We will decide what to do after first determining the fact and the background,” the official said.

MOFAT is also reportedly planning to broach the issue at a Mar. 12 meeting between vice foreign minister Kim Jae-shin and Chinese ambassador to South Korea Zhang Xinsen.

A ministry official said the meeting was originally scheduled to discuss the issue of North Korean defectors and Chinese president Hu Jin-tao‘s upcoming visit to Seoul for the Nuclear Security Summit to be held on March 26-27. But observers said Ieo-do could now dominate the meeting.

Analysts interpreted Liu’s statements as a reaffirmation of Beijing’s claim to Ieo-do. China last laid claim to Ieo-do Dec. 2007 through the website of an organization affiliated with the SOA.

Ieo-do is located 149 km from Mara Island in the southernmost part of South Korea. It is 247 km from China at its closest point.

Ieo-do sits in an area where the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of China and South Korea overlap. The two countries recognize different maritime borders, each of which places Ieo-do within their EEZ. China has claimed the island with the argument that EEZs should be determined based on factors such as coastline and population in the vicinity.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]