Japan is to extend its continental shelf by adding about 120,000 square kilometers under waters east of the Ogasawara island chain in the Pacific Ocean. The government hopes the extension will lead to the development of critical minerals and other important resources.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea says that, in principle, a coastal state only has sovereign rights for exploiting the natural resources in the continental shelf inside its exclusive economic zone. But a provision of the convention says the continental shelf can be widened if certain conditions, such as seabed topography, are met and the understanding of relevant states is obtained.

Japan has been in talks with the United States for nearly 10 years about extending the area known as the Ogasawara Plateau, which is outside Japan's EEZ. A UN committee has issued a recommendation approving an extension of Japan's continental shelf.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio told a government meeting on Friday that Japan and the US have completed arrangements and most of the Ogasawara Plateau will officially become part of Japan's continental shelf.

The Japanese government plans to make the necessary legal revisions around the spring of next year.