South Korea is poised to formally present its official submission concerning the extended portion of continental shelf in the East China Sea to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) later this week, South Korean media have reported, stating that part of Seoul's claim overlaps areas China claimed in its report earlier this month.
The South Korean move was said to be a response to China's demarcation of territory which included more expansive claims closer to South Korea compared to China's 2009 preliminary document.
"Obviously, South Korea is looking for an excuse for its push toward China in defining the natural extension of the continental shelf," said a Seoul-based political observer, who asked to remain anonymous, noting that South Korea didn't complain when China presented its document to the CLCS on December 14.
South Korea is catching up in asserting its maritime rights and interests, he added.
The coastal state has rights to tap the oil, gas, mineral reserves and other natural resources buried under the continental shelf. The continental shelf in the East China Sea is believed to contain rich natural gas and oil deposits.
China and South Korea share a very similar stance in defining the limits of continental shelf in the East China Sea. Both claim that their continental shelves naturally extend to the Okinawa Trough, at odds with Japan.
Japan filed its submissions in November 2008, but more than half of its claim has failed to receive UN recognition.
"The difference between China and South Korea is far less significant than that between Japan and the two as a united front over this issue," said Lü Chao, an expert on Korean Peninsula issues at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.
However, the final demarcation of the continental shelf in the East China Sea will not automatically favor China and South Korea, it will be a prolonged legal battle among the three East Asian neighbors, the political observer in Seoul said.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea states that "if the continental shelf of a coastal state extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the width of the territorial sea is measured, the state shall submit information on the limits of the continental shelf to the CLCS."
