Beijing’s use of incremental gray-zone tactics to assert de facto control over the Yellow Sea is challenging South Korea’s ability to uphold maritime sovereignty and strategic stability.

Through opaque declarations of no-sail zones and construction of fixed structures, China is redrawing facts on the water in contested zones. Without a coordinated, forward-looking strategy, Seoul risks entrenching a reactive posture that could lead to long-term strategic disadvantage.

The immediate source of concern is China’s installation of large steel platforms in the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ), a maritime area where South Korea and China’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap but remain legally