Newsletter

The Northeast Asian History Foundation organized the second CIL-KSIL-SILS Joint International Conference on April 20, in cooperation with the Foundation for the Foundation for the Development of International Law in Asia (DILA). The conference was co-hosted by Korean Society of International Law (KSIL), Society of International Law Singapore (SILS), and Centre for International Law (CIL) of the National University of Singapore, and supported by Province of Gyeongsangbuk-do and Korea Ocean and Research Development Institute (KORDI). The first conference took place last year in Yonsei University, Korea, and the venue for this year's conference was the National University of Singapore.

The conference was held under the topic, "Regional Cooperation: Looking Back and Moving Forward", and it consisted of ten panelists in five panels. From Korea, KSIL President Choi Taehyun and 20 KSIL members participated in the conference as well as the Foundation's research fellows, Kim Yonghwan and Yoo Hayoung. Robert Beckman (Director, Centre for International Law) made a welcome address, and Walter Woon (David Marshall Professor of Law, NUS and former Attorney-General of Singapore) gave a key note speech. In particular, Oh Joon (Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Singapore) made a special welcome address to this conference.

Key presentations at the conference included: 1) "Combating Regional Oil Spill Accidents: A Case of NOWPAP", Chung Suh-yong (Professor, Division of International Studies, Korea University); 2) "Regional Cooperation to Combat Ship-Source Pollution", Capt Muhammad A Segar (Director (Port), Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore); 3) "Extended Continental Shelf Claims in South China Sea", Robert Beckman (Director, Centre for International Law, Singapore; Associate Professor, NUS Faculty of Law, Singapore); 4) "New Types of Marine Resources in Deep Sea beyond National Jurisdiction and the Law of the Sea", Shin Chang-hoon (Policy Advisor, Korea Ocean and Research Development Institute); 5) "ASEAN International Investment Agreements", Norah Gallagher (Adjunct Research Associate Professor, Centre for International Law, Singapore); 6) "History of the Singapore Issues in the WTO", Michael Ewing-Chow (Head, Trade Law and Policy Programme, Centre for International Law, Singapore; Associate Professor, NUS Faculty of Law, Singapore) etc. What was noteworthy is that Chin Heng Ong's presentation on "Pedra Branca Case and Its Implications". He is Deputy Senior State Counsel in International Affairs Division at the Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Pedra Branca is under Singapore's sovereignty, after five years of conflict between Singapore and Malaysia. I also presented a paper on "Analysis on ICJ Rulings over Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks, and South Ledge", introducing the views of the third party (Korea).

There remained a number of pressing issues between Singapore and Malaysia, including water supplies and treatment of ethnic Chinese. Malaysia was quite confident about the Pedra Branca case as the ICJ ruled in its favor on December 2002 regarding the conflicts over some islands with Indonesia. It was right after the ICJ judgment (in February 2003) when Malaysia agreed to submit the dispute to the ICJ after decades of negotiations. The island called Pedra Branca was under the jurisdiction of Singapore, and the case became an international issue because the islet is located in the main shipping channel in the Singapore Strait.

ICJ Ruling – Combining "acquisitive prescription" and "acquiescence"

Chin Heng Ong's presentation reminded Korean participants of the disputes over Dokdo between Korea and Japan. According to him, Singapore argued that Pedra Branca was terra nullius – "land belonging to no one" – as it had never been the subject of a prior claim of sovereignty by any sovereign entity, while Malaysia claimed that it had original title to Pedra Branca. The Pedra Branca case presents the most recent views of the ICJ regarding territorial disputes over islands, and it was also interesting to see how a nation without experience in international law suit prepared for and finally won the case.

The Pedra Branca case was a longstanding issue between Singapore and Malaysia. (The islet was previously called "Pulau Batu Puteh" by Malaysia.) The uninhabited island is the size of a stadium, and there are the Horsburgh Lighthouse and other facilities. In the territorial waters of Pedra Branca lie the Middle Rocks and South Ledge. The ICJ ruled that Pedra Branca is under Singapore's sovereignty, while determining that Malaysia retained sovereignty over the Middle Rocks. In addition, the ICJ simply held that sovereignty over South Ledge belonged to the state which owned the territorial waters in which it is located.

Chin Heng Ong said that Singapore respects the judgment, but they cannot fully agree to the ICJ's arguments. Singapore thought it would win or lose all of Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge. According to him, Singapore believed that the ICJ is an international legal authority and never considered it as a political entity. He added that the bilateral relations between Singapore and Malaysia would improve in the future with the ICJ ruling and the end of the dispute over Pedra Branca.

Mutual Respect and Comity for Resolution of Outstanding Issues

I made a presentation on the Pedra Branca case from the perspectives of Korea as a third party, and introduced the ICJ's comments that its argument is a combination of "acquisitive prescription" and "acquiescence". In particular, I emphasized that a number of Malaysia's behaviors acquiescing Singapore's effective rule over Pedra Branca in a peaceful manner have led to losing the island, despite the fact that the ICJ initially acknowledged Malaysia's sovereignty over it. (The relevant conduct on the part of Singapore included investigating marine accidents in the vicinity of the island, planning land reclamation works, installing naval communications equipment, and requiring Malaysian officials wishing to visit the island to obtain permits.) The conference holds significance in that the third party can recommend us to submit the dispute over Dokdo to the international court. Regarding this, I pointed out that there still remain issues to be resolved between Singapore and Malaysia, in terms of implementation of the judgment and delimitation of the maritime boundary in the area around Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks. That is, I stressed that a single ruling of the international court cannot resolve everything. There are ways to resolve conflicts that respect Asian values, and consultations based on mutual respect and comity can be more useful in this regard.

A number of experts, including scholars of international law, researchers and other relevant people, participated in the conference. I expect that continued academic exchanges between the two countries' intellectuals will contribute to providing the platform for promoting Korea's policies in the international community.