Since the advent of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, countries around the world are claiming sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone and the deep sea, and are trying to expand the area of the sea. Nonetheless, when we look back at our Constitution, there is no mention of 'the territorial sea' and 'the sea', and the possibility of legislation is not feasible in the future. Therefore, in the active aspect of expansion of territory, we should consider the changes of our Constitution and related laws on the sea and marine fisheries. In addition, we reviewed the constitutional regulations of the major countries on the sea and the current state of international law, and examined what they suggest to us.
Since recognizing the importance of fisheries resources at the time of the Korean Constitution was enacted, and having rules of the socialization of natural resources and the provision of fisheries resources, Korea has not made any provision about the 'ocean' until the 6th republic. However, to the 6th republic in the marine laws, it began to put legal grounds on the continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and the deep sea.
The definition of "sea" is defined as the territory whereto extends the sovereignty, sovereign rights or jurisdiction of the Republic of Korea such as "waters within the port, inland waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, continental shelf, and high seas" And marine fisheries resources include “the marine living resources, marine mineral resources, marine energy, marine tourism resources and marine spatial resources”.
The attitudes of the world's constitutions on the sea vary. The Constitution of Russia, the United States, and Canada etc. have regulations on the sea. Examples of countries that are regulated by law include Japan, the United Kingdom and France.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was enacted in 1982, contains a jurisdictional waters baseline (normal and straight baselines), the breadth of the territorial sea (a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles), the regime of passage through the International Straits, contiguous zone (24 nautical miles), exclusive economic zone (200 nautical miles), continental shelf (200 to 350 nautical miles), archipelagic waters, high seas, the deep sea, the protection and preservation of the marine environment, settlement of disputes as its main contents. The key issue is that they recognize sovereign rights in the continental shelf and in the exclusive economic zone.
Therefore, Korea should have a viewpoint that it is a 'maritime territory' as a spatial basis for achieving the achievement of science and technology and industrial development. And we should the Constitution should be based on the substantive enactment about the sea and seriously consider how to reflect them. Furthermore, to advocate sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone and the deep sea, etc., maritime science and technology innovation should be supported