BackgroundFor 35 years between 1965 and 1999, the fisheries relations have been governedby the Fisheries Agreement of 1965, whereby both countries establishedtheir respective 12 N.M. exclusive fisheries zones from the coasts ofeach State; a joint regulation zone outside Korea's exclusive fisheries zoneand a joint resources research zone outside the joint regulation zone. It is generally understood that the Fisheries Agreement of 1965 betweenKorea and Japan was negotiated under the influence of UNCLOS I and IIwhere the argument to give the coastal States exclusive or preferentialfisheries rights over the waters up to 12 miles had been very strong, althoughthe argument fell short of getting a necessary majority for producing suchrules. In the 1960s it was Japan who wanted to have a fisheries agreementconcluded with Korea because Korea proclaimed the so-called “Peace line”in a vast area of the sea around the Korean Peninsula in 1952 and enforcedthe line against the Japanese fishing vessels. By concluding the fisheriesagreement, the Japanese government succeeded in rendering the Peace lineinapplicable to its fishermen and thus the Japanese fishermen gained accessto fisheries resources even within the Peace line as long as they did not fishwithin the 12-mile fisheries zone of Korea. Although there were some restrictionsin the joint regulation zone as to the number and size of fishing vessels,types of fishing gear, time of fishing operations, there had not beenserious disputes in the zone because the maximum catch had been set atsuch a high level so as to satisfy the need for the Japanese fishermen and the enforcement over the vessels in the joint regulation was to be exercised solely by the flag State of the vessels. However, problems began to arise in the late 1970s as the Koreanfishing vessels became much more active in the waters off the Japanesecoast with improved power and fishing equipment thanks to modern technology.In this situation, the proclamation of the 200-mile fisheries zoneby the Soviet Union in 1976 also provided a backdrop against which newfisheries disputes arose anew because the Korean distant water fishing vesselsthat lost their fishing ground in the waters around the Soviet Unionsin Northwest Pacific began to swamp the coastal areas of Japan's Hokkaidoto catch Alaska Pollock. Although this situation was not welcomed at allby Japan which also proclaimed its 200-mile fisheries zone in 1977, it couldnot enforce the zone against Korean fishermen in the waters beyond the 12miles from its coasts because of the Fisheries Agreement of 1965, whichprovided for, as Japan had wished, the freedom of fishing under the flag State jurisdiction in the area beyond 12 miles from the coasts. Then the Fisheries Agreement of 1965 turned out to benefit Korean fishermen morethan Japanese fishermen. Obviously this was not the situation which Japanhad expected in the 1960s when it asked Korea to conclude a fisheriesagreement.In this situation Japan raised the need to amend the Fisheries Agreementof 1965 but Korea tried to keep the agreement as it stood because it benefitedKorean fishermen. However, after long discussion, Korea and Japan reacheda compromise formula in 1980, establishing zones…
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