South Korea deploys floating structure to monitor China's maritime activities in disputed waters

​​​​​​​By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - South Korea deployed a floating structure to monitor China's maritime activities in the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea, Seoul's oceans minister said Wednesday.

“We have taken countermeasures by (installing) a large and stationary floating structure there to start an environmental investigation in the area,” Kang Do-hyung said in a parliamentary legislative committee meeting, as quoted by the Seoul-based Yonhap News.

China previously placed at least three large mobile steel structures in the Korea-China Provisional Maritime Zone (PMZ), two of them last year and one this year. Each structure is reportedly several dozen meters in diameter and height, causing concerns in Seoul.

The PMZ is an area where the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of South Korea and China overlap. The two countries are only allowed to operate fishing vessels and manage marine resources together in the zone, with any activity beyond navigation and fishing prohibited.

The two countries were involved in a two-hour standoff last month in the area when Seoul tried to investigate a steel structure in the PMZ.

In response, the Chinese Embassy issued a statement Wednesday claiming that the platforms are for “deep-sea fishery aquaculture” in “China's coastal waters” and do not violate a bilateral agreement between China and South Korea. An embassy spokesperson noted that the installations had been “publicly reported” prior to their construction.