유엔해양법협약상 해양경계시 공동개발협정의 역할

The United Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has been effective since 1994, and thereafter, the ocean order is becoming stable and well managed and maintained in general. However, a lot of hidden maritime disputes is appeared, which was under the sea level, and so the ocean order is becoming rather more complicated than before the UNCLOS. Especially, maritime boundary delimitation on the Exclusive Economic Zone(the EEZ) and the Continental Shelf(the CS) are becoming serious, which will not be easily solved among the concerned countries because costal states are trying to secure more wider maritime zones based on the UNCLOS in areas where the distance between opposite or adjacent coast is less than 400 nautical miles. The UNCLOS provides basic principles and rules on maritime boundary delimitation, but there are still many ambiguous articles. which means that the interpretation and application of the relevant provisions are heavily depending on the concerned states’ unilateral interpretation, which will be favorable to a state. Under the above background, this study will focus on the legal analysis on the role of the Joint Development Agreement(the JDA), which has been invoked for the settlement of maritime boundaries through several cases. For this purpose, the article will examine selected international cases regarding the JDZ in terms of the UNCLOS and then suggest the role or impact of the JDZ on maritime boundaries. Also, it is hoped that this study would be a legal and practical reference to maritime boundary negotiation in the future.