[USFK Forums] Seoul to Review Maritime Border With N. Korea [Chosun]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Friday, March 10, 2006

Seoul to Review Maritime Border With N.Korea

The Chosun Ilbo
Updated Mar.9,2006 18:32 KST

The government has staUpdated Mar.9,2006 18:32 KST rted reviewing the West Sea Northern Limit Line separating North and South Korean waters. The review comes at the renewed prompting of North Korea in talks between military top brass from the two sides on March 2-3.

”We would ignore what the North said if it had just repeated its existing position, but this time the North asked for the NLL to be redrawn on the grounds of the annex agreement in the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement signed in 1992,” a high-ranking government official said.

So far Pyongyang has simply said it does not recognize the NLL. “As a result, the South Korean government has decided to take another comprehensive look at the issue to see whether the NLL can be redrawn taking international laws and the armistice agreement into account, and whether there are any better alternatives.”

But the official said the review was not being undertaken with the prejudice that the NLL will definitely be redrawn. However, it will be comprehensive, always taking into account that any changes to the NLL could meet with strong public resistance, he added.
Clause 10, Chapter 3 of the non-aggression part in the annex reads,

“There shall be continuous consultation about the maritime non-aggression line between South and North Korea. The maritime non-aggression area is defined as the one each side controls until the maritime non-aggression line is established.” The official said Seoul cherished the Basic Agreement and tried to include it in an agreement adopted at the 2000 inter-Korean summit but failed due to objections from the North.

South Korea wanted the generals at the meeting to discuss a joint fishing area to avoid needless scuffles when shipping vessels stray across the NLL, but North Korea insisted that both sides must withdraw their demands and discuss the NLL with a clean slate. The Defense Ministry has so far taken the position that the NLL has been “tacitly recognized” over the 50 years since the armistice and is not up for discussion.



(englishnews@chosun.com )


(END)