*This Law amends South Korea’s Territorial Sea Law (No. 3037 of 31 December 1977)

• Summary

This legal document contains the Republic of Korea’s Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone Act promulgated on 31 December 1977, as amended by Law No. 14607 Promulgated on 21 March 2017.

Similar to its first version in 1977, the newly amended law includes, inter alia, the definition of the internal water, territorial sea, and the contiguous zone of the ROK. The law also mentions the use of both normal low-water line baseline and straight baseline from which the territorial sea and the contiguous zone are measured.

Notably, regarding the matter of innocent passage, Article 5.1 of the law still requires that foreign warships and government vessels operating for non-commercial purposes shall give prior notice “to the authorities concerned in accordance with the Presidential Decree” to conduct innocent passage through the ROK’s territorial sea.

Finally, as amended by Law No. 14607 on 21 March 2017, the Law now has a new article clarifying that “any matter not regulated by this Act shall be subject to treaties concluded and promulgated under the Constitution and the generally accepted rules of international law.”

• Document: Republic of Korea’s Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone Act promulgated on 31 December 1977, as amended by Law No. 14607 Promulgated on 21 March 2017
• Amends: South Korea’s Territorial Sea Law (No. 3037 of 31 December 1977)
• Enforced by: 2013 South Korea’s Enforcement Decree of the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone Act Law No. 3037, promulgated by Presidential Decree No. 9162, 20 September 1978 on 20 September 1978, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 13463, 7 September 1991, by Presidential Decree No. 15133, 31 July 1996, by Presidential Decree No. 17803, 18 December 2002, and by Presidential Decree No. 24424, 23 March 2013