President Lee Jae Myung says China has agreed to remove one of its three structures in the South Korea-China Provisional Measures Zone, or PMZ, an area of the Yellow Sea where the two countries’ exclusive economic zones overlap. 

Lee made the announcement Wednesday during a luncheon with reporters in Shanghai, addressing an issue that has created tension between Seoul and Beijing in recent years, with South Korea expressing concerns about its maritime rights being violated. 

China installed two fish farms in the PMZ, one in 2018 and one in 2024, and built a facility to manage the farms in 2022.

Lee said China agreed to remove the management facility after acknowledging that while it had not crossed into South Korean waters, it had entered the Chinese side of the PMZ.

The president said he’d proposed drawing a clear line in the middle of the PMZ and holding working-level talks on the matter to eliminate room for any future disputes.