수중문화유산과 침몰 국가선박의 국제법상 지위와 보호에 관한 연구

Recovery of artifacts located on the sea floor has become feasible due to advances in marine science and technology. Although traditional laws of salvage and finds had served to solve legal problems raised by recovery of artifacts, international community has become more interested on protection rather than commercial recovery of underwater cultural heritage. With the conclusion and entry into effect of international agreements affecting underwater heritage, we have to courts consider many different areas of law to decide on legal status of ancient artifacts and shipwrecks located on the seafloor : international law of the sea, sovereign immunity law, law of salvage, and law of finds. The Law of the Sea Convention incorporated only 2 articles on legal status of underwater cultural heritage. The convention conferred coastal states jurisdiction over underwater heritage in territorial sea and contiguous zone, but underwater artifacts located in Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) and on the continental shelf are left unregulated. The 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage which came into effect in 2009 was adopted to fill a gap left by the LOS Convention. This convention introduced more concrete definitions on important terms to define the scope of application. This convention also introduced provisions governing the legal status of underwater cultural heritages which are located in territorial sea, contiguous zone, EEZ, continental shelf of any coastal state and which are found in the Area. There have been controversy over the legal status of the sunken state vessels and aircraft including warships. Some states maintained that the special legal status and immunities attributable to warships could not be changed due to pass of time without express consent by the flag state. Other states have insisted that it is not acceptable to provide the sunken warships the special legal status such as privileges and immunities suitable only for operable military craft. Situated between the Eurasia Continent and the Japan, Korea is a peninsular state with a history of five thousand years. Given the fact that the seas in the East Asia are shallow and semi-enclosed and that there had been brisk trade between east asian states, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea have been regarded one of the most important area rich in underwater cultural heritages. Noting international law principles stipulated in the LOS Convention and the Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention, Korea should prepare for a new legal system for the protection of underwater heritages.