South Korea installs platform to monitor Chinese presence in disputed sea

SEOUL - South Korea has set up a “reciprocal” platform in a disputed area of the Yellow Sea, known in Seoul as the West Sea, where China has increasingly built structures, Oceans Minister Kang Do-hyung said on March 26.

China says its structures are fish farming equipment, but they have raised alarm bells in Seoul over concerns Beijing could be seeking to stake claims in the Provisional Maritime Zone, where the two countries’ exclusive economic zones overlap.

Mr Kang told Parliament that South Korea is monitoring the Chinese presence by setting up a stationary floating platform for “environmental survey”.

“South Korea has taken reciprocal measures with a large-scale floating object,” he said.

In February, a South Korean research vessel sent to examine the Chinese structures was blocked by Chinese coast guard ships and rubber boats carrying civilians, according to South Korean media reports.

The South Korean coast guard also deployed and was involved in a two-hour stand-off before retreating, the reports said.

Lawmakers from South Korea’s ruling People Power Party on March 25 called the Chinese presence a “direct challenge to marine security” and urged a more forceful response.

Mr Kwon Young-se, chairman of the partys emergency response committee, said China was using fishing as a pretext, and compared its actions to those it has taken in the South China Sea, where Beijing claims vast swathes of the area despite overlapping claims by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

“The West Sea is not just a sea, the West Sea is Korea,” he said. “It is where many fishermen make their living, and the front line of our security.”

In a statement on March 25, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Seoul said some reports about the structures were not factual and that they do not violate any