SINGAPORE, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Wednesday that Singapore told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it agreed with Malaysia's request for discontinuance of the case of Pedra Branca.
It was reported that Malaysia had informed the ICJ on Monday that it would stop the proceedings that it had brought forward in February and June 2017 to revise an earlier judgment that awarded Singapore the sovereignty of Pedra Branca, a small but strategic island located about 40 km off Singapore's east coast.
Singapore told the ICJ the following day that it agreed with Malaysia's request. Then the ICJ informed the two countries that it had removed the cases from the court's list, before the public hearings on both cases which were originally scheduled for next month.
"Both Malaysia and Singapore had gone through the due legal process and put this matter to rest," Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said.
The ownership of Pedra Branca was in dispute between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur since 1979 and was brought to the ICJ in 2003, which ruled in May 2008 that Singapore had sovereignty over the small island.