Sino-Korean Border Agreement

The Sino-Korean Border Agreement (Chinese: 中朝边界条约; Korean: 조중 변계 조약) was signed by China and North Korea on October 12, 1962, in Pyongyang. This agreement and a subsequent agreement in 1964 define the modern border between the two countries. The agreement is widely viewed by both modern scholars and by contemporaries as being favorable to North Korea. As a result of the agreement, North Korea acquired 280 km² of territory on and around Paektu Mountain, and 54.5% of the mountain's Heaven Lake. The previous practice of using the Yalu River and Tumen River for the rest of the border was affirmed.

A subsequent agreement followed on March 20, 1964, called the Protocols on the Sino-Korean Border (Chinese: 中朝边界议定书; Korean: 조중 변계 의정서). It was signed in Beijing and determined the sovereignty of 451 islands and islets (264 to North Korea, 187 to China).

Both agreements were made in secret, never registered with the United Nations Secretariat, and never publicly confirmed. However, in 2000, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo published leaked copies of the Chinese version of both agreements that are considered by scholars to likely be authentic.

The legality of the 1962 and 1964 agreements are studied in South Korea. Of particular interest is the legal status of the agreements if Korean reunification occurred and also whether a unified Korea may have a basis for claiming Jiandao (called Gando in Korean), an area ceded to China that roughly corresponds to the current Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. Most legal scholars agree that a unified Korea should attempt to uphold the legitimacy of the agreements and that it is likely China will try to renegotiate the border.