• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.280-289
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• 2022

Internal Waters refer to the waters located at the landward side of a baseline and is completely under the sovereignty of a coastal state. However, the right of innocent passage of foreign-flag vessels is recognized in internal waters that are newly incorporated by establishing a straight baseline. Korea has a massive Internal Waters on its south-western coast where the straight baseline is adopted and has a wide Internal Waters that allows innocent passage. A foreign-flag vessel navigating the internal waters must be properly managed according to the interest of the coastal states such as the fishing·safety·security·environment around the Korean coast. Additionally, Territorial Sea comes under the sovereignty of a coastal state and it is a very important sea area for managing the interests of the coastal states. However, several collision accidents involving illegally anchored or drifted foreign-flag vessels have been occurring recently in the Korean Internal Waters and Territorial Sea, and such accidents are a threat to its interests. Thus, this paper analyzes the cases of collision of foreign-flag vessels that anchored or drifted without authorization, and examines domestic·international laws on the passage of foreign-flag vessel through Internal Waters and Territorial Waters. Finally, this paper suggests that unauthorized anchoring of foreign-flag vessels in Korean Internal Waters and Territorial Water violates the requirements for innocent passage and this violation is punishable according to related Acts; a desirable improvement plan for the legal system of passage through Internal Waters and Territorial Waters.