Koreas locked in volatile stalemate over sea boundary set by U.N.

SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- The renewed contention over the border in the Yellow Sea between South and North Korea can be traced back to 1953, when the three-year Korean War ended in a fragile truce.

Commander Mark Clark of the U.S.-led United Nations forces unilaterally set the
border at the end of the conflict, hoping the Northern Limit Line (NLL) would
help prevent clashes between the two Koreas.
North Korea did not dispute the NLL until 1973, when it made a series of
intrusions past the crooked line that extends from the heavily armed military
demarcation line across the peninsula.
Four years later, the North declared its own western sea border that grouped five
key South Korean islands south of the NLL into its own territory, and tension has
run high in the area since.
"North Korea kept quiet until the mid-1970s, because it simply did not have
enough naval capabilities to exercise authority over the area," Jeong Seung-jo, a
South Korean commander who published a book on the NLL, said.
The tension burst in 1999, when the two sides clashed in a naval battle that is
believed to have left dozens of North Korean soldiers dead, but no South Korean
casualties.
The clash, followed three years later by a similar collision that killed six
South Koreans, came despite a 1991 pact that urged the sides to respect the NLL
but also allowed for further negotiations.
On Friday, North Korea said it has decided to scrap its side of the pact, about
two weeks after it threatened to "shatter" any South Korean opposition to its
claim to the western waters near the NLL.
The threats were the latest North Korean messages to South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak, who took office early last year while calling for a tougher and more
conservative stance on Pyongyang.
The previous Roh Moo-hyun administration had tried to complete the 1991 pact,
reaching a summit accord with Pyongyang in 2007 to turn the volatile western
waters into a joint fishing area.
The move, which required readjustment of the de facto border, drew intense
criticism from South Korean conservatives who accused Roh of allowing military
concessions.
"North Korea had not balked at the presence of the line for decades, and that
constitutes an act of acquiescence," said Lee Chang-wee, an international law
professor at the University of Seoul.
"Acquiescence has substantial importance in international law and stands to
counter North Korea's recent claims," he said.
Lee cited the U.N. denunciation of North Korea's first provocation. Backed by
similar statements from Washington, the U.N. reaffirmed the line in 1999 as "an
effective means of preventing military tensions" for decades.
"It serves as a practical demarcation line, which has contributed to the
separation of forces," the U.N. said in a statement.
But liberals argue the NLL issue needs to be brought into productive dialogue,
warning the increasingly bitter rhetoric between the two sides may lead to a
repeat of armed collisions.
"There is still ambiguity lingering with the NLL issue. If both sides retain
hawkish positions, the area will remain nothing but a flashpoint," Lee Chul-ki,
an international relations expert at Seoul's Dongguk University said.
The two Koreas remain in a state of war because the ceasefire that ended their
fratricidal conflict has yet to be replaced by a permanent peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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