한반도 주변 해역은 해양오염에 심각하게 노출되어 있다. 이곳은 남북한을 포함한 중일러 5개국이 연안국을 구성하고 있으며, 유엔해양법협약상 폐쇄해 내지 반폐쇄해에 해당되기 때문이다. 현재 이곳에는 각 연안국 간의 환경보호협력조약과 북서태평양실천계획(NOWPAP)이 확립되어 있다. 그러나 그러한 협력조약이나 실천계획은 지중해나 발트해의 경우와 같이 강력한 집행력이 담보된 국제법규범이 아니므로 효율적인 해양오염의 규제가 이루어지 않고 있다. 본 연구는 이러한 상황의 개선을 위하여 동 해약에 있어서 지속가능한 성장을 위한 해양환경보호체제의 확립을 모색해보기 위한 것이다. 구체적으로, 본 연구에서는 해양오염의 국제적 규제와 유엔해양법협약상 해양오염 규제를 살펴보고, 실천적인 해결방안으로서 지역해프로그램에 의한 규제와 한반도 주변해역의 규제 문제를 검토한다.

The seas around the Korean Peninsular are exposed to serious marine pollution. It is because there are a lot of industrial complexes as well as big cities in the coastal areas of such countries as Korea, Japan and China. It can be said that the West Sea (Yellow Sea) suffers most from the marine pollution. As the West Sea is semi-enclosed and relatively shallow, it is vulnerable to pollution from all kinds of sources. In order to improve such a serious condition of pollution, the coastal States of the West Sea should have strict regional regime on the regulation of marine pollution. However, current regional regimes of the protection of the marine environment around the Korean Peninsular are not that effective in terms of regulation and implementation. Several cooperative treaties on the protection of the marine environment between the coastal states, and regional seas programme such as NOWPAP are not good enough to prevent marine pollution therein. By the way, international regulation and controls on marine pollution are well established through the detailed rules of international law at the global level. Accordingly, enforcement and application of international standards through municipal law and regional cooperation system therein, at the earliest possible moment, are needed by the relevant coastal States. In this regard, several significant international regimes including the 1982 UN LOSC and regional seas programme are analyzed in the context of regional and local implementation in this article.