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Park Chan-kyong

South Korea is mulling potential countermeasures after confirming China has installed a large steel structure in contested waters of the Yellow Sea, raising fresh concerns over Beijing’s expanding maritime footprint.
Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kang Do-hyung said on Monday that the government was preparing a “proportionate” response, which might include building similar facilities such as aquaculture infrastructure, depending on available funding.
“We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness from the standpoint of protecting our maritime territory,” Kang told reporters.
The structure in question is a fixed, rig-style platform installed in 2022 by China within the so-called Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) – an area where the exclusive economic zones of South Korea and China overlap.


The PMZ is governed by a bilateral agreement that permits fishing and navigation but bans construction and other forms of development.
Kang said the government would need to first assess what type and size of facility would serve as an appropriate response. He added that budget discussions with fiscal authorities were ongoing.
The platform is anchored to the seabed and located about 185km (115 miles) southeast of the Chinese port city of Qingdao. Beijing says it functions as a management hub for two mobile aquaculture platforms – Shenlan 1 and Shenlan 2 – completed in May last year.
But South Korean officials and defence experts remain sceptical.
Former vice-defence minister Shin Beom-cheol described the Chinese installation as part of Beijing’s broader efforts to “expand its naval clout” in the Yellow Sea.
“China claims these facilities are for aquaculture, but they are far too large and too far offshore for that to be credible,” he said.
He added that China’s maritime expansion was not limited to the South China Sea and the Pacific but now included the Yellow Sea as well. “These unusual structures are part of that strategy.”
Seoul confirmed the existence of the fixed platform last week following media reports and independent verification by the government.
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul told the National Assembly that he had raised objections to the installations during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi last month.


South Korea intends to bring up the issue again during a round of scheduled high-level maritime talks in Seoul, which could take place as early as later this month, according to diplomatic sources cited by Yonhap News Agency.
In February, a brief stand-off occurred when Chinese authorities blocked a South Korean research vessel from approaching the structure for inspection. China has said the facility is part of a commercial aquafarm and that Seoul has no authority to investigate.
South Korean officials say China’s actions in recent years – including its installation of large steel structures – risk undermining their bilateral maritime pact and fuelling future territorial disputes.
To manage such concerns, the two sides launched a maritime dialogue mechanism in 2019, though the last official talks were held online in 2022.


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Officials say the fixed steel platform risks undermining a bilateral pact and signals China’s expanding maritime ambitions


Officials say the fixed steel platform risks undermining a bilateral pact and signals China’s expanding maritime ambitions.


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