Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul on April 23 makes a statement at the general meeting of the National Asesmbly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. (Yonhap News)

By Kim Seon Ah

The government has expressed "concern" and demanded action over China's unauthorized installation of structures in the Provisional Measure Zone (PMZ) of the Yellow (West) Sea.

Both countries on April 23 discussed the issue in Seoul at their third dialogue on maritime cooperation. The PMZ is an area where the exclusive economic zones of the two sides overlap.

Leading Korea at the meeting was Kang Young-shin, director-general for Northeast and Central Asian affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Chinese side was headed by Hong Liang, director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Claiming that the structures are "deep-sea fisheries aquaculture facilities," China installed the fish farms Shenlan 1 in the PMZ in 2018 and Shenlan No. 2 last year. In 2022, it also installed something resembling an oil drilling rig that it called a control facility.

In February, Korea launched an inspection of the structures, which led to a confrontation between the coast guards of both countries and spurred calls for stronger action. Seoul is also considering installing its own structures like fish farms in the PMZ to proportionately respond to Beijing's actions.

On the same day, Minister Cho told the National Assembly in Seoul, "The government's position is to consider effective alternatives like proportional countermeasures."

"A pan-government policy meeting of relevant ministries is ongoing on this matter, and the National Security Council has discussed it on multiple occassions from a security standpoint," he added.

sofiakim218@korea.kr