• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2009

IMO is treating various and numerous agenda with time, and the contents of agenda have been tending to achieve international standardization for details of technology, for example GBS(Goal based new ship construction standards), PSPC(Performance Standards of Protective Coating), LRIT(Long-Range Identification and Tracking of Ships), etc. This paper presents the latest agenda trend of IMO committees and analyzes the ROK's activities in response to IMO committees. In the result of analysis, ROK lacks in performance ability as a A-category council member as well as infrastructure to support the government activities in IMO continuously. Therefore, ROK should be conscious of policy approaches to international maritime tendency and needs to complete the internal/external infrastructure which leads the international maritime policy.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.193-202
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• 2006

The Consultative Meeting of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other matter, 1972 (London Convention 1972) has requested to International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environmental Protection Committee to collaborate and help clarify a boundary issue between International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Shops, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 (MARPOL) and the London Convention concerning 'dumping' versus 'discharges' during normal operations of ships in 2004, and subsequently established a Joint London Convention/MEPC Correspondence Group. The Contracting Parties to London Convention expressed their environmental concerns on the broad interpretation of the "cargo-associated wastes" by the States, which could be discharged by ships under MARPOL. Regulatory regimes for the cargo residues appear to vary among states. Some countries require fur ships to discharge their cargo wastes into the port reception facility and IMO also recommends doing so. This paper examines the related current national and international legal texts for the regulation of disposal of wastes from ships in order to analyze the current global concern on the marine pollution associated with waste discharge during operations of ships. In particular, we attempt to evaluate the likely marine environmental consequences arising from the disposal of cargo residue using an hypothetical case for the coal cargo residue among bulk cargos in this paper, since location, magnitude and frequency of the discharge of coal cargo residues into the sea adjacent to Korean Peninsula are not readily available. The cargo residues may be discharged to the sea according to MARPOL 73/78; however, its marine environmental consequences can be significant depending upon the characteristics and amounts of wastes to be discharged. Also the public tolerance of the environmental consequences would be widely different among nations. Multilateral environmental agreements, in general, more strictly apply their rules if there are other options to disposal at sea, i.e. port reception facility in this case. Therefore, port reception facilities for the wastes generated by ships are recommended to be further constructed in major national ports in order to reduce the risk of environmental damages during the operations of ships.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2022

In 2021, the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), a U.N. advisory research institute, cited container loss as one of six sources of marine litters in shipping. The sinking of the X-P ress Pearl in May 2021 caused a catastrophic environmental pollution accident in which the loaded containers were moved to the shore, and the plastic pellets were loaded inside covered the coast of Sri Lanka. With this history, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will discuss prevention and follow-up measures for container loss during ship voyages, as an agenda at the 8th Sub Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers meeting in September 2022. To establish Korea's response direction at the IMO meeting, this study identified major causes of container loss accidents, and considered the response through analysis based on the accident investigation report and related professional data. As a result, it was found that the major cause of container loss during voyages was the enlargement of container ships, bad weather, and poor loading of containers. In particular, the need to prepare countermeasures for the deterioration of the operational safety of large container ships due to bad weather was identified. Additionally, integrated monitoring of the implementation of international conventions is required, for the safe sea transportation of container cargo. In particular, in terms of preservation of the marine environment, it is necessary to supplement the system for the recovery of lost containers. Finally, it was found that it is necessary to establish systems that can complement each other in the shipbuilding and shipping industries, in terms of shipbuilding as well as ship operation, to fundamentally prevent container loss accidents at sea. It is judged that it is difficult to resolve the various factors of container loss at sea during voyages, by responding from an individual perspective.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.263-268
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• 2009

The Yellow Sea is extremely important to the economy and to the health and well-being of surrounding countries, Korea and China. Recently, the Yellow Sea is under constantly increasing threat of degradation due to the increase of environmental pollution and over-fishing. The governments of Korea and China have been aware of the importance of the Yellow Sea and reached an Environmental Agreement between Korea and China at the governmental level(November, 1993) According to this environmental agreement the Yellow Sea Environmental Cooperative Research between Korea and China has been undertaken since 1997. The joint cruise had been conducted once a year at 33 stations in the 4 lines of the Yellow Sea where the 9 stations of the D line was newly added in the 7th cruise in 2003. The samples were analyzed by scientists of both countries at the WSFRI, Korea and the OEMNC of the SEPA, China in turn, the annual report has been published every year during 1998-2008. The scientific efforts to fix the cruise time in October and to extend research frequency, as twice a year, should be considered, and this requires the governmental supports such as research funds and other related administrational assistance on both sides. Finally, scientists should also pay a concentrated attention to standardize the analytical methods including quality control and to improve this Yellow Sea research as one of the most representative international projects in the Yellow Sea where sharing additional informations available, if exist of dumping sites and material content, and of the freshwater quality will be of great help to broaden the output of this joint research project.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.987-994
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• 2021

The Yellow sea, as described in article 123 of UNCLOS, is semi-enclosed sea surrounded by the Republic of Korea, the People's Republic of China and North Korea. In addition, the Yellow Sea is one of the 66 large marine ecosystems as it contains large amounts of marine resources. According to article 194 of UNCLOS, states should be aware of rights and duties with respect to the protection and preservation of the marine environment to be engaged with countries directly as regional entity or indirectly. Therefore, the legal blank is urgent in terms of trans-boundary environmental pollutant issues. The UNDP has conducted a project called Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (YSLME) which has reached the 2^nd phase. The project has some notable achievements, namely performing joint activities on analysis of diagnostic trans-boundary issues in collaboration with China and South Korea, developing a strategic action plan based on TDA, and establishing regional strategic action plan. However, on the other hand, the project could not reflect the full participation of North Korea as a state party. As a result, the project has a limitation on effective implementation of RSAP. Therefore, this study focuses on the suggestion of a legally-binding trilateral treaty as a blue print for the next, 3^rd phase of the project. By analyzing the best practice of the Wadden Sea Trilateral Treaty case, the study verifies the validity of legislative measures on establishing and managing a legally-binding trilateral YSLME Commission. By suggesting a three phase treaty, incorporating a joint declaration by establishing the commission, the signing of the treaty, and formulating an umbrella convention and implementation arrangement, the study expects to guarantee the consistency and sustainability of the trilateral treaty regardless of political issues pertaining to North Korea.