Korea Strait

sea passage between Japan and South Korea

The Korea Strait (Korean: 대한해협, Daehan Haehyeop), also known as the Tsushima Strait, is a narrow body of water between Japan and South Korea.[1] The name is used in two ways. It identifies the sea between Korea and Tsushima Island;[2] and it is also used generally to describe the wider ocean area between Korea and the island of Kyushu.[3]

USGS map showing Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait
Map showing the western channel (Korea Strait) and the eastern channel (Tsushima Strait)

The strait links the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean.[4] Tsushima Island is between the western channel (Korea Strait) and the eastern channel (Tsushima Strait).[5]

Geography

The northern shore of the strait is the southern coast of the Korean peninsula. Depending on usage, the southern shores of the strait may mean the western coast of Tsushima or it may mean the western coasts of Kyūshū and Honshū.

The strait is about 200 km (120 mi) wide and averages about 90 to 100 meters (300 ft) deep.[source?]

The western channel is deeper (up to 227 meters) and narrower than the eastern channel.[source?]

A warm current (Tsushima-kairyū) runs through the straight from south to north.[6]

Related pages

References

Other websites

Media related to Korea Strait at Wikimedia Commons


34°35′58″N 129°47′48″E / 34.59944°N 129.79667°E / 34.59944; 129.79667