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( Korea Strait)
The Korea Strait is a sea passage between South Korea and Japan, connecting the East China Sea (South Sea)and the Sea of Japan (East Sea) in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The strait is split by the Tsushima Island into the western channel and the Tsushima Strait (eastern channel). To the north it is bounded by the southern coast of the Korean peninsula, and to the south by the southwestern Japanese islands of Kyushu and Honshu. It is about 200 km (120 miles) wide and averages about 90 to 100 meters (300 ft) deep. A branch of the Kuroshio Current passes through the strait. Its warm branch is sometimes called the Tsushima Current. Originating along the Japanese islands this current passes through the Sea of Japan then divides along either shore of Sakhalin Island, eventually flowing into the northern Pacific Ocean via the strait north of Hokkaido and into the Sea of Okhotsk north of Sakhalin Island near Vladivostok. The water-mass characteristics vary widely because of the low-salinity waters of the southeast coasts of Korea and China. Numerous international shipping lanes pass through the strait, including those carrying much of the traffic bound for the ports of southern South Korea. Both South Korea and Japan have restricted their territorial claims in the strait to 3&_160;nautical miles (5.6&_160;km) from shore, so as to permit free passage through it.[1][2]
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