Yonhap News reports:

S. Korea, Japan to resume talks to draw EEZ boundaries

SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Yonhap) — South Korea and Japan will discuss the boundary of their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) waters in the East Sea next week, resuming talks for the first time in five months, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

The two neighbors have been at odds over drawing a clear line for their EEZ, as Japan has laid claim to South Korea’s easternmost islet between the neighbors, Dokdo.

“For this upcoming meeting, we hope to build an atmosphere to change the EEZ in a fair manner and eventually contribute to peace in the Northeast Asia,” Im Han-taek, director on international treaties at the Foreign Ministry, said in a media briefing.

Im will represent South Korea at the talks.

The seventh round of the EEZ talks will take place in Tokyo on Monday. The last round, held in September, failed to produce an agreement.

In the last round, Seoul pressed for the line to be drawn east of Dokdo, while Tokyo wanted the boundary to be set in waters between South Korea’s Ulleung Island and Dokdo, which it claims to be Japanese territory.

Dokdo is 92 kilometers east of South Korea’s Ulleung Island, and 160 km west of Japan’s Oki Island.

February 28, 2007