1. The government of the Republic of Korea has delivered a presentation to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) on the information on the outer limits of its continental shelf, which was submitted to the UN on December 26, 2012, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The presentation was made at the UN headquarters in New York on August 28 during the 32 Session of the CLCS.
* The ROK delegation was led by Director-General for International Legal Affairs Kang Jeong-sik of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and comprised of officials from relevant government agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, as well as civilian experts in oceans and international law.
° The ROK delegation officially proclaimed that the outer limits of the continental shelf under the ROK’s sovereign rights extend to the Okinawa Trough through natural prolongation of its land territory, the gist of the formal information submitted to the UN last December.
° The delegation also explained to the CLCS the technical and legal aspects of the aforementioned information and asked it to consider the information on the outer limits of the ROK’s continental shelf in the East China Sea.
2. The CLCS, after internal discussions, will make a final decision on whether to consider the submission made by the ROK government last December.
° In case there is a dispute in the delimitation of the continental shelf between opposite or adjacent countries, the CLCS will not consider the submitted information.
° With Japan currently taking issue with the ROK’s information, the CLCS will most likely defer its consideration.
3. Regardless of whether its submission will or will be not considered, it carries great significance in that the ROK government, through the submission of and the presentation on the information regarding its continental shelf, officially proclaimed to the international community that the outer limits of its continental shelf extend to the Okinawa Trough in the East China Sea.
Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA
* unofficial translation