China has installed three more large-scale buoys in the Yellow Sea, where its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) overlaps with that of South Korea.
According to the South Korean military on Saturday, the Navy confirmed the presence of the three buoys in May 2023. All are located within China’s EEZ.
Since 2018, Beijing has already installed ten similar observation buoys, each three meters wide and six meters tall, near the provisional maritime zone (PMZ), where the two countries’ EEZs intersect.
One of the newly installed devices is located inside the PMZ.
Although China says the devices are used for maritime and weather observation, concerns are growing in South Korea that they could also be used for military purposes or as leverage in future EEZ negotiations.
Recently, China also placed steel structures in the PMZ without prior notice, claiming they were part of an aquaculture facility. In addition, it temporarily declared "no-sail zones" in the southern Yellow Sea — within South Korea’s EEZ — to carry out military drills.