Korea Strait

sea passage between Japan and South Korea

The Korea Strait (Korean: 대한해협, Daehan Haehyeop), also known as the Tsushima Strait, is a narrow body of water between Japan and South Korea.[1] The name is used in two ways. It identifies the sea between Korea and Tsushima Island;[2] and it is also used generally to describe the wider ocean area between Korea and the island of Kyushu.[3]

USGS map showing Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait
Map showing the western channel (Korea Strait) and the eastern channel (Tsushima Strait)

The strait links the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean.[4] Tsushima Island is between the western channel (Korea Strait) and the eastern channel (Tsushima Strait).[5]

Geography

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The northern shore of the strait is the southern coast of the Korean peninsula. Depending on usage, the southern shores of the strait may mean the western coast of Tsushima or it may mean the western coasts of Kyūshū and Honshū.

The strait is about 200 km (120 mi) wide and averages about 90 to 100 meters (300 ft) deep.[source?]

The western channel is deeper (up to 227 meters) and narrower than the eastern channel.[source?]

A warm current (Tsushima-kairyū) runs through the straight from south to north.[6]

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References

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  1. The New York Times (2011). The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind. Macmillan. p. 640. ISBN 978-0-312-64302-7.
  2. Laird, Robbin Frederick; Hoffmann, Erik P. (1986). Soviet Foreign Policy in a Changing World. Transaction Publishers. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-202-36924-2.
  3. US Department of State, "Limits in the Seas, No. 121; Straight Baseline and Territorial Sea Claims: South Korea," p. 23; retrieved 2012-9-4.
  4. Smith, Robert W.; Thomas, Bradford L. (1998). Island Disputes and the Law of the Sea: An Examination of Sovereignty and Delimitation Disputes. IBRU. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-897643-28-0.
  5. Maritime Boundary Disputes, Settlement Processes, and the Law of the Sea. BRILL. 2009. p. 53. ISBN 978-90-04-17343-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  6. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press. p. 1003. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5.

Other websites

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  Media related to Korea Strait at Wikimedia Commons


34°35′58″N 129°47′48″E / 34.59944°N 129.79667°E / 34.59944; 129.79667