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On the morning of the 25th, officials, who appear to be marine policemen, are investigating the fishing guide boat Mugunghwa 10, which was aboard the missing officials from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, anchored in the sea near Yeonpyeong-do , Ongjin-gun, Incheon. (Photo = Yonhap News)
The protracted conflict between the two Koreas over the North Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea is emerging again on the surface, as the search for the body of an official who was killed in North Korean gunfire on the 22nd shows signs long search.
On the 29th, it was a week after the attack, but it was difficult to find the bodies and objects in the open sea, and a joint search or joint investigation was required, but North Korea warned against ‘invading the territorial sea’ without responding. .
◇ The sea area near the incident point overlaps with the ‘guard line’ of the NLL and North Korea
The NLL is a line in the sea that extends to the Military Land Demarcation Line (MDL), established by UN Commander-in-Chief Mark Clark in 1953. North Korea has not officially recognized this until now, and in 1999 insisted on the ‘Maritime Boundary Line of the Western Sea’ that the 5 degrees of the Western Sea was within its territory.
At the seventh general meeting in December 2007, eight years later, North Korea made a slightly modified claim to the “Western Sea Guard Line.” As you can see from the graph, this line is slightly south of the NLL, but includes the five-book north sea in the west sea.
The Korean government rejects this and maintains the position that the NLL is a true maritime military demarcation line. Deputy Speaker Moon Hong-sik of the Ministry of National Defense reiterates in a regular briefing on the 28th, “The NLL is a true maritime demarcation line, and there is an invariable principle of the government that the NLL must be observed and respected “.
It is not clear what the ‘Western Sea Military Maritime Demarcation Line’ means, which North Korea claimed via the Chosun Central News Agency on the 27th, that our military invaded. First of all, it is true that it is most likely the ‘West Sea Guard Line’, which was the most recently claimed.
The problem is that the alleged location of the attack is the sea on the west side of Yeonpyeong Island and south of the mountain trail. Naturally, there is a high possibility that a search will be carried out around this area, but North Korea’s ‘West Sea Guard Line’ insists that this area is North Korean waters.
It is true that the scene of the incident is north of the NLL. However, even if the South Korean military is searching the nearby sea without crossing the NLL, it is interpreted as a trap because this area falls on the north side of the ‘guard line’ claimed by North Korea.
◇ “North Korea intends to leave reasons for not admitting NLL” … Neurological warfare expected for considerable period of time
Since the incident has already occurred for about a week, the search is likely to drag on. Although the need for a joint investigation has been raised, North Korea has yet to respond to President Moon Jae-in’s proposal.
According to the Incheon Maritime Police Station, the Navy and Coast Guard divided the areas from the west of Yeonpyeong Island to the south of Socheong Island into 8 areas, with the Navy in charge of 4 areas close to the NLL and the Coast Guard in charge of the 4 remaining areas.
In the search for the 28th, 45 ships and 6 aircraft were put into effect, including 36 navy and maritime ships, and 9 fishing guide boats. However, no clear progress has been made so far and the search is likely to be prolonged due to the nature of the case.
Cheongwadae National Security Council (NSC) Secretary General Seo Ju-Seok (Deputy Head of the National Security Office) held a briefing on the 27th and said: “Since there are differences in the circumstances and facts identified by South and North, we request a joint investigation to investigate the facts as soon as possible. We request the restoration and restart of the military communication lines for communication, consultation and information exchange. “
In particular, the Casa Azul explained that the recovery of corpses and belongings is a humanitarian dimension and a top priority to learn the facts. “We hope that the South and the North will do everything possible to search in each maritime zone and exchange the necessary information to cooperate,” he even suggested a rough methodology.
Until the afternoon of the 28th, North Korea did not give any special reaction to this. In a meeting with journalists this morning, a high-ranking Defense Ministry official briefly stated: “There is no specific trend of the North Korean military at this time, and they also appear to be involved in search activities.”
“If North Korea doesn’t send any warning messages, it looks like it came out because this time it could back the NLL,” said Sung-ryul Cho, research adviser at the Institute for National Security Strategy. “I left a message not to use it as”.
“Rather, if there is a conflict like an armed demonstration, the meaning of the public apology made by President Kim Jong-un will disappear,” he said. “North Korea is not in a position to enlarge the situation, but to prevent it,” he said. “There is an expression of,” he added.
Of course, even so, it seems unlikely that North Korea will respond to a joint investigation. Therefore, in practice, you can proceed by guessing the results of each survey.
Commissioner Cho said: “If successful, the two Koreas can reach a common position through talks at the military working level or talks at the general level, and our side wants to develop it in the joint military committee mentioned in Military Agreement 9.19. as much as possible”. “The old problems of this can be discussed here.”
However, since the restoration of military communication lines, which is a prerequisite, has yet to be carried out, there is a possibility that the conflict over the NLL will resume if the two Koreas continue their respective search operations. without a joint investigation or a joint search.
