신 한일어업협정상, 독도와 그 주변 수역의 법적 문제

Abstract

One of the crucial issues in the 1999 Fisheries Agreement between Korea

and Japan is whether the Joint Fishing Zone or the Intermediate Zone in the

East Sea (or the Sea of Japan) would exert certain effects upon the legal

status of Tokdo therein and its peripheral waters including the 12 mile

territorial sea. The Zone was established as a kind of provisional arrangement

as a result of the difficulties in negotiating maritime boundaries due to the

territorial controversy between Korea and Japan. The Fisheries Agreement did

not attach any formal name to the Zone, apparently because the two neighbors

were unable to agree on the legal status of the Zone. The Korean government

labeled it as an Intermediate Zone, whereas the Japanese government has

called it as Provisional Zone or Joint Management Zone. This is because

Japanese government has preferred a practical approach as provided in Art. 74

of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, wherein it is provided to the

effect that any disputing States over the delimitation of maritime boundaries

should make every effort to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical

nature without prejudice to the final agreement; whereas the Korean

government has rather opted for a neutral name. Since from the Korean point

of view there is no dispute over the islet of Tokdo, which has been Korean

territory since time immemorial except a brief period 1905-1945 under the

Japanese occupation, it is natural that Korea would like to maintain the high

seas status to the Zone as was provided in the 1965 Fisheries Treaty between

Korea and Japan. The term "Provisional Zone", as it is called by the Japanese,

might imply the existence of dispute over Tokdo. Many Japanese would rather

call it a Joint Management Zone, because certain provisions regarding the