The Sea of Japan is bound by the Russian mainland and Sakhalin island to the north, North Korea and South Korea to the west, and the Japanese islands of Hokkaidō, Honshū, and Kyūshū to the east.
It is connected to other seas by five shallow straits: the Strait of Tartary between the Asian mainland and Sakhalin; La Perouse Strait between the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaidō; the Tsugaru Strait between the islands of Hokkaidō and Honshū; the Kanmon Straits between the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū; and the Korea Strait(genkainada) between the Korean Peninsula and the island of Kyūshū. The Korea Strait is composed of the Western Channel and the Tsushima Strait, on either side of Tsushima Island.
Deepest point: 3,742 meters below sea level
Mean depth: 1,753 meters
Surface area: about 978,000 km²
The sea has three major basins: the Yamato Basin in the southeast; the Japan Basin in the north; and the Tsushima Basin (Ulleung Basin) in the southwest. The Japan Basin has the deepest areas of the sea, while the Tsushima Basin has the shallowest.
On the eastern shores, the continental shelves of the sea are wide, but on the western shores, particularly along the Korean coast, they are narrow, averaging about 30 kilometres wide.
The Tsushima Warm Current, a branch of Kuroshio Current, flows northward through the Korea Strait along the Japanese shore, and the Liman Cold Current flows southward through the Strait of Tartary along the Russian shore.
The Sea of Japan was once a landlocked sea when the land bridge of East Asia existed.
The 38th parallel was first suggested as a dividing line for Korea in 1902. Russia was attempting to pull Korea under its control, while Japan had just secured recognition of its rights in Korea from the British. In an attempt to prevent any conflict, Japan proposed to Russia that the two sides split Korea into separate spheres of influence along the 38th parallel. However, no formal agreement was ever reached, and Japan later took full control of Korea.
After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the parallel was established as the boundary between the Soviet (north) and American (south) occupation zones in Korea, as Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel had earlier suggested. The parallel divided the peninsula roughly in the middle. In 1948, the dividing line became the boundary between the newly independent countries of North and South Korea. At the end of the Korean War (1950-1953), a new border was established through the middle of the Demilitarized Zone, which cuts across the 38th parallel at an acute angle, from southwest to northeast. The 38th Parallel was also the place where the cease-fire was called to end the fighting
2007-05-20 09:10:37
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answer #1
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answered by Bond 5
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Yeah, I guess they'll let you see it if you ask nicely.
2007-05-20 14:54:31
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answer #2
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answered by gunplumber_462 7
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