Korea is planning to submit a claim for an extension of the continental shelf beyond its exclusive economic zone south of Jeju Island.
An official from the foreign ministry said that the ministry plans to submit its claim to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf as early as this month.
The claim will state that the Korean Peninsula's continental shelf stretches to the Okinawa Trough in the East China Sea.
Korea submitted a preliminary claim to the UN body in 2009 under the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea.
The area being claimed by Korea is part of the Joint Development Zone with Japan, and is one-fifth of South Korea's land territory.
Large reserves of natural resources such as oil and natural gas are believed to be in the area.
Meanwhile, Japan's Kyodo News reported that Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters on Thursday that Korea cannot stretch the outer limits of its continental shelf, which would infringe on Japan's oceanic rights.

Reporter : annaheo@arirang.co.kr