| The Republic of Korea is a country with three sides facing the seas.Due to the lack of natural resources from the land,we mainly rely on natural resources from the seas and oceans.Maritime transportation becomes the most convenient and fastest way to transport the resources.Thus,relevant legal issues between ROK and its neighboring countries are particularly important.With the development of international maritime trade and the growth in the size of ships and in the number of shipping and logistics,marine accidents caused by ships have also increased.As a result,maritime safety has begun to draw attention.On December 20th,2015,ROK and China signed the Free Trade Agreement(FTA),and the number of ships passing through the exclusive economic zones of both countries has grown gradually.In addition,ROK and China have the most frequent exchanges at sea in the world,as 13 cruise lines operated by 12 shipping companies continuously shuttle between the two countries every day to transport people and goods.However,during these frequent exchanges at sea,there are risks of occurrences of marine accidents.Marine accidents have many different characteristics from land accidents.The place where the accident occurs-the sea,is usually vast compared with the land.There are fewer rescue personnel and ships nearby and there is a longer distance between them,which takes a longer time for the rescue personnel to reach the site.When the weather deteriorates,the operation of the ship and the aircraft will also be restricted and it is difficult to find the victims or the ships in distress.In view of the above introductions,this paper will,on a step-by-step basis,explore the characteristics and prevention of ship accidents.Then it will discuss the functions and legal systems of ROK and Chinese marine institutions,find out their common features through the comparison between them,and the conditions for ROK-China cooperation.According to the annual statistics of the ROK Coast Guard on the status of cooperation on marine search and rescue between the countries,there are the most cases of cooperation in rescue with China each year.It can be seen that in terms of the locations of marine accidents,the rapid progression of neighboring rescue forces is the key to the protection of life and property.Therefore,ROK and China play important roles as cooperating countries in search and rescue in case of marine accidents.To elaborate on the necessity of marine accident rescue by ROK and China and the trend of development,this article believes that the two countries must provide comprehensive protection for victims of marine accidents based on the standards of humanitarian assistance.Besides,the two countries can refer to the cooperative models of North American countries to make comprehensive and deepened cooperation.The final part of this paper includes suggestions and conclusion.In general,ROK and China should not only rely on official support and assistance,but also strengthen the role of non-governmental forces,so as to systematically support the governments’ marine rescue work and to provide timely assistance.As a matter of fact,it is necessary to formulate relevant laws in order to properly handle the issues concerning compensation and assistance for private marine rescue groups. |
