South Korea plans to submit an official claim to an extended portion of continental shelf beyond its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the East China Sea to a United Nations body as early as this month, a senior official said Thursday.

In the documents to be submitted to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), South Korea is expected to claim that the Korean Peninsula's naturally extended continental shelf stretches to the Okinawa Trough in the East China Sea.

"After reviewing and processing relevant data, we completed working-level procedures to formally submit the documents to the U.N. CLCS," the foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

The submission will be made as early as this month, the official said.

According to the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea, coastal nations can claim an economic zone extending 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from their shores. In the EEZ, a country is eligible for exclusive rights to the exploration and use of marine resources.

The move is expected to rekindle a territorial dispute with China and Japan over the extent of their respective exclusive economic zones.

South Korea lodged a similar claim in its preliminary information submission to the U.N commission in 2009.

The 2009 claim immediately sparked a dispute over sea territory demarcation with China, which followed up with its own claim over the Okinawa Trough.

China argued the trough is part of its natural continental shelf extension. It also submitted a claim to Ieodo, which lies in the overlapping part of the two countries' exclusive economic zones and where South Korea has an observation station. Tokyo also claims the Okinawa Trough, which is believed to contain natural gas and oil deposits. (Yonhap)