SEOUL—South Korea has scrapped an order to its commercial airlines to ignore the air-defense zone China declared late last month—Seoul's first acquiescence to a Chinese act that has soured diplomatic relations in the region.
South Korean Transport Minister Suh Seoung-hwan said late Wednesday that carriers would be allowed to decide for themselves whether to submit flight plans to Chinese authorities, according to a ministry spokesman. Soon after China declared the zone over the East China Sea, South Korea told its carriers not to recognize it—part of Seoul's protest against an air-defense zone that overlaps its own and covers an area of ocean claimed by both countries.
Separately, the ministry's head spokesman, Song Seog-jun, said Thursday that the change was made for safety reasons.
The U.S. and Japan also protested China's move, which they see as an attempt to bolster Chinese claims to islands controlled by Japan. But while South Korea and Japan told their airlines not to recognize the zone, the U.S. said it would allow its private airlines to obey Chinese rules, likewise for the sake of safety.
An air-defense identification zone, or ADIZ, is an extra buffer beyond a country's airspace, where foreign aircraft may be asked to identify themselves or their flight plans.
South Korea's reversal leaves Japan as the only country still instructing its airlines not to notify Chinese authorities when entering the new ADIZ. Japan's civil-aviation regulator, transport ministry and airline association said Thursday they will continue to ignore the Chinese rules and won't file flight plans to China.
Seoul's reversal could frustrate Tokyo, which accepted South Korea's decision Sunday to expand its own ADIZ into areas that overlap with the Japanese zone as well as the new Chinese zone.
Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Co., South Korea's two main carriers, said Thursday they have begun submitting information to the Chinese authorities about flights that enter the zone. Flights between South Korea and Southeast Asia are most affected by Seoul's decision.
Chinese officials said last week the 55 airlines, including U.S. carriers, are obeying the new rules. When China announced the zone on Nov. 23 it said any unidentified aircraft entering it could face a military response, but it has since toned down its rhetoric.
Source: Wall Street Journal by Jeyup S. Kwaak | Photo: Wikipediafrom China Travel & Tourism News http://www.chinatraveltourismnews.com/
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