A U.S. Special Operations Command official identified a Korean research group as a potential partner for a grant to install a powerful maritime radar in the waters southwest of Jeju Island around Ieodo, a submerged reef where Korea has maintained a science station to monitor the seas.

The suggestion came after China was found setting up structures in the West Sea, where Ieodo is located and where the two countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap.

The Ieodo Research Society, a civilian think tank with close ties to Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, received inquiries about the possibility of a $150,000 grant to install the radar, according to people familiar with the discussions.

“I have a $150,000 U.S. government grant to provide partners with enhanced maritime domain awareness radar. We would be able to set up and run a server and push all of the data to whomever you chose. I would like to discuss further,” the official said in an email to the think tank, obtained by The Korea Times.

The official added that improved monitoring of the undelimited maritime areas could ease tensions by allowing data to be shared.

An official from the research group told The Korea Times that Korea “already has what it needs,” citing existing technology monitoring the sea around Ieodo.

The offer comes as tensions sharpen over Ieodo, a submerged reef known in China as Suyan Rock, where Korea has operated Ieodo Ocean Research Station since 2003, monitoring oceanographic and atmospheric conditions and transmitting observations in real time. The site lies in waters controlled by Seoul but within the overlapping EEZs of both Korea and China.

For Washington, expanding surveillance would help track China’s increasingly assertive naval and coast guard patrols, and push allies to share intelligence in the region more closely. For Seoul, the station is more than a research base — it is a declaration that the country already has the means to monitor the Ieodo waters on its own.The Republic of Korea Navy’s 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer Yulgok Yi I patrols the waters around Ieodo, an underwater reef and home to a Korean ocean research station south of Jeju Island, in this file photo from Dec. 3, 2013, in the wake of China’s declaration of a new air defense identification zone that includes it. Yonhap

The American official, who wished to remain unnamed, told The Korea Times during the Ieodo International Seminar — an annual event organized by the think tank, held in Jeju from Thursday to Saturday — that the message was neither an official proposal nor a formal U.S. Army stance, but rather a “personal opinion of what we can do.”

In the official’s hypothetical scenario, the data collected from the facility would be “made unclassified” and shared openly, with the aim of preventing a potential outbreak of conflict.

Tensions between Korea and China in the West Sea have increased in recent years over disputed territories, maritime installations and naval operations.

In April, Korea expressed “deep concern” over Chinese structures in the Provisional Measures Zone, where the countries’ EEZs overlap and where the two nations agreed to guarantee fishing activities for both countries. Beijing said its facilities support marine farming and fishing and are unrelated to sovereignty claims.

Ieodo, also called Socotra Rock, has emerged as a focal point in the dispute. The submerged reef lies 149 kilometers from Mara Island, Korea’s southernmost point, making it closer to Korea than to China. Seoul claims jurisdiction based on the median line principle, while Beijing objects to Korea’s activities in the area.

Founded in 2007 with government accreditation, the Ieodo Research Society promotes awareness of the underwater reef through research, education and publications on its strategic and scientific significance.