Jeon Nam-do Councilor Shin Euijun: "Jeon Nam-do Must Intervene in Wando-Jeju Maritime Dispute"

Urgent Call for Formation of Dedicated Team and Exploration of Measures to Resolve 'Sasudo Jurisdiction Dispute'

As Jeonnam Wando-gun and Jeju Island are engaged in a legal dispute over jurisdiction of Sasu-do, voices have emerged calling for the Jeonnam provincial government to form a dedicated team for active response.

Shin Eui-jun, a member of the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly (Democratic Party, Wando 2), stated in an interview with Asia Economy on the 10th that measures to protect Jeonnam’s maritime territory need to be explored.

On the 10th, Assemblyman Shin Eui-jun stated in an interview with Asia Economy that measures must be taken at the Jeonnam provincial level to address the maritime jurisdiction dispute over Sasu-do.

The jurisdictional dispute over Sasu-do between Wando-gun and Jeju City has continued for more than 29 years since 1979.

In 2008, the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of Jeju’s jurisdiction, but unlike land, maritime boundaries between regions do not exist, and the Constitutional Court is reportedly in a position where it must take an ambiguous stance on the legal effect of the national basic map.

In this situation, Jeju Province filed a jurisdictional dispute trial with the Constitutional Court on the 5th of last month, claiming that Wando-gun’s ‘permission for the use of public waters in its jurisdictional waters’ infringed upon Jeju’s jurisdictional waters.

Jeju argues that permission for the use of public waters should be granted based on the national basic map, while Wando-gun insists on dividing the project area in half and exercising permission rights accordingly, leading to sharp conflict.

Assemblyman Shin stated, “Sasu-do was formerly known as ‘Jangsu-do’ and was inhabited by natives of Soan-do, and according to island and international law, Wando is closer as the baseline of territorial waters,” adding, “Local residents hold the position that it is problematic if Jeju insists that the Sasu-do waters are their territory.”

He also said, “The latent conflict resurfaced when Jeju City opposed the approval authority over the installation of offshore wind power measurement devices by a private company,” emphasizing, “The company received permission from Wando-gun for 3 out of 8 installations and planned to install the remaining 5 measurement devices near Sasu-do, but Jeju City opposed this.”

He further explained, “The permission for installing the measurement devices was judged lawful after review by 6 to 7 legal consultation agencies including the Jindo Navigation Mark Office, Ministry of National Defense, Wando Coast Guard, and National Park Service.”

In particular, he expressed, “Currently, Jeju Province has even formed a response team and is actively preparing countermeasures, but Jeonnam Province is merely observing the litigation process of Wando-gun. The maritime territory of Wando-gun is directly Jeonnam’s maritime territory,” and added, “On the 11th, I plan to strongly demand that Jeonnam Province prepare countermeasures regarding the maritime boundary dispute during the 5-minute speech at the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly.”

He added, “To protect Jeonnam’s maritime territory, Jeonnam Province should form a dedicated maritime response team immediately and devote efforts to monitoring public waters and enacting related laws, including filing jurisdictional dispute trials.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.