1. A seminar on Arctic-related international law, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul on July 20. Participants of the seminar will discuss issues regarding Arctic-related international law, and ways for the ROK to deal with them.

o The upcoming seminar, hosted by the Foreign Ministry and organized by the Korea Polar Research Institute, the Korea Maritime Institute, and the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, will be attended by officials from Arctic-related government agencies and organizations as well as relevant academics at home.

o The seminar will consist of sessions on Arctic-related international regulations, including the Svalbard Treaty and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; international law issues in each Arctic Ocean-related area, including Arctic routes and an agreement on fisheries in the Arctic high seas; and international law issues regarding the Arctic Ocean and ways for the ROK to handle them.

2. The Arctic, warming at a rate of more than twice the global average, is posing a serious environmental challenge, but the thawing of the Arctic Ocean is also creating opportunities for Arctic routes and resource development. Since the ROK gained observer status at the Arctic Council in 2013, a lot of research on Arctic-related issues, including climate change, Arctic routes and energy, has been carried out in domestic academia, but research on international regulations, which provide an institutional basis for the government and private sector’s activities in the Arctic, is still in its infancy.

3. With climate change underway, the importance of conserving and managing the Arctic is increasing and thus more international institutions related to the issue are being made, and the importance of cooperation between Arctic and non-Arctic countries is also growing. The seminar to be held against this backdrop is expected to serve as an important opportunity to discuss major Arctic-related issues from the perspective of international law, as well as the way forward for the ROK’s Arctic policy.


* unofficial translation