Japan Postpones Ending Japan-S. Korea Continental Shelf Agreement; Holds Off to Keep Ties Despite Project’s Lack of Progress

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, June 23, 2025

The government has decided to postpone the notification of terminating the Japan-South Korea continental shelf agreement, which governs joint continental shelf oil development by the two countries, according to multiple sources close to the government.

While from Sunday it becomes possible for Japan to make the notification, the government has decided to hold off following South Korea’s request to maintain the agreement. Japan will carefully consider how to handle the agreement while keeping a close eye on the foreign and security policies of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s administration, inaugurated earlier this month.

The agreement entered into force on June 22, 1978, and remains in effect for 50 years, until 2028, after which it will be indefinitely effective unless either country notifies of the termination of the agreement. Notification should be given three years in advance, meaning Japan can give it from Sunday.

Under the agreement, Japan and South Korea have established a joint development zone in the East China Sea off the southwest coast of Kyushu, where the boundaries of the continental shelf between the two countries have not yet been defined. Both have been looking into any existing oil and natural gas reserves in the area. However, no significant resources have been found and the joint project has made little progress so far.

Over the past five decades, the international community’s view on the continental shelf has changed. According to recent international precedents, Japan may be able to delineate the boundary more advantageously than before. For that reason, the government has been considering the handling of the agreement, including the possibility of immediately giving the notification of termination on Sunday.

In South Korea, however, expectations for oil development remain high and Seoul calls for Tokyo to maintain the agreement. In light of the strategic importance of trilateral security cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea, and the fact that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea, the government has decided not to immediately notify the termination of the agreement and to keep the issue under consideration.