South Korea is in discussions with China and other neighboring countries to prevent any accidental clashes over its expanded air defense identification zone, the defense ministry said Monday.

In December last year, South Korea announced the new Korean air defense identification zone to counter China’s unilateral declaration of its own. The move aimed to bolster Seoul’s sovereignty over a reef and other islands off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula.

“South Korea is in talks with China, Japan and Russia to keep possible clashes from occurring in overlapping air defense areas with the KADIZ,” defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said at a regular briefing. “An exchange of information will allow us to identify the type of some aircraft which have not been clarified.”

Since the KADIZ took effect on Dec. 15, the South Korean military has been unable to identify the type of 10 aircraft that have entered the zone, according to a source.

“Korea’s military plans to make efforts to expand its surveillance over airplanes that will enter the expanded KADIZ and the overlapping areas,” Kim added.

Seoul and Beijing remain at odds over China’s declaration in November of its new air defense identification zone over the East China Sea that encroaches upon South Korea’s and includes the Seoul-controlled submerged rock of Ieodo. (Yonhap)