*This Law was amended by the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone Act Law No. 3037 promulgated on 31 December 1977, as amended by Law No. 4986, promulgated on 6 December 1995, and as Amended by Law No. 14607 promulgated on 21 March 2017 in 2017 (the newest amendment). 

• Summary

This legal document contains the Republic of Korea’s Territorial Sea Law (No. 3037 of 31 December 1977) promulgated in 1977. The 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 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.

• Document: South Korea’s Territorial Sea Law (No. 3037 of 31 December 1977) (English version).
• Amended by: 2017 South Korea’s Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone Act Law No. 3037 promulgated on 31 December 1977, as amended by Law No. 4986, promulgated on 6 December 1995, and as Amended by Law No. 14607 promulgated on 21 March 2017
• 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