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Show 1 THE KOREA TIMES, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1970 C©mmeree-lndu*try Minister Lee isak-sun, sitting at left, and Wendell Phillips, president of Wendell Phillips Oil Co., sitting at right, sign contracts under which the U.S. firns will explore and develop oil In a 70,000-square-kllometer •*- shore ares of Korea. The signing: ceremony took place yesterday at the Commerce-Industry Ministry. Stjwiws»» 1 Prospecting Concession y ROK Signs Agreement With Phillips Oil Co. Oil prospecting and development concession involving about a 70,000-square-kilometer offshore area of Korea has been granted to the U.S. Wendell Phillips Oil Co. 1 The area is one of seven blocks of the Korean continental shelf which remains unaffected by any! agreement with foreign firms. ' Located closest to Japanese territory, the seventh block is open to controversy with Japan. The government claims the seabed in the offshore area is a natural prolongation of Korean territory while the depth of the sea in most of the area is more than 200 meters. After signing the oil conces- Bion contract, Wendell Phillips, president of the company, told reporters that he fully supports the position taken by Korea as a sovereign nation on the controversial issue. Onetime geology professor, Dr. Phillips said he himself | sees no serious dispute on the problem as the "intelligent Ja-, panese people" will make a i careful study on the area. Lying between 30 degrees north latitude and 128 degrees ; east longitude but about 12 kilometers off the Dan jo and Tori- j shima Islands of Japan, the i area was claimed as part of Korea's continental shelf by the government In June. Terms of the contract granted to the U.S. oil explorer are almost the same as those already given to other foreign oil firms - Gulf Oil, Royal Dutch Shell and Texaco-which share exploration rights involving the rest of the Korean continental shelf: -Exploration period will be eight years followed by a 30- year development period. But t the terms could be extended by two years and two extra five years, respectively. -The Phillips company will invest a minimum of $10 million in the exploration and pay tgt0ckh0eioe-0nvm tdIemc tKraeo asonrosf trmcw r ieiaalrnao cloitnlt lyb .a ao lplgnstrswoauyoolhvs d e eutsprncou an t pyimton ohein netn1 . ct2 .as K5biso$ eghr5ngp 0eie0anonr,grns- J i |