Little Progress

Two Koreas Should Do More to Ease Military Tensions

The Nov. 27-29 defense ministers' talks have made little progress in easing military tensions between the two Koreas due to a dispute over the sea border issue. South and North Korean delegates sat together in Pyongyang for the three-day meeting to discuss ways of implementing agreements reached during the second inter-Korean summit. However, they failed to narrow their differences over the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and other confidence-building steps.

It is disappointing to see the North continuously insisting on the redrawing of the NLL, the de facto inter-Korean maritime border in the West Sea. Critics accuse Pyongyang of only trying to get economic assistance from Seoul without taking any reciprocal action toward national reconciliation and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsular. The hard-line North Korean regime should realize that its irrational demands over the NLL will only lead to the backpedaling of inter-Korean cooperation.

The United Nations Command drew up the NLL at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The South Korean side has long taken the firm stance that the North's proposal to redraw the line cannot be a matter for discussion. Such a proposal is none other than Pyongyang's attempt to force Seoul to make a territorial concession. It is regrettable that the North does not recognize the NLL as a fixed border, while struggling to expand its sea control below the line.

South Koreans can never overlook the North's territorial ambitions because the western waters have been a flash point for military conflict between the two countries. North Korean navy ships have frequently crossed the NLL into the South, resulting in two bloody naval clashes in 1999 and 2002. North Korea should immediately give up its bid to nullify the firmly established maritime border.

Amid the NLL dispute, the two sides failed to work out details on how to set up a joint fishing area in the West Sea. The North insisted that the area should be set up south of the NLL, implying a redrawing of the border. The South proposed that the zone cover equivalent areas on both sides of the NLL. The failure has cast a dark cloud over the establishment of the shared fishing zone that was agreed on by President Roh Moo-hyun and his northern counterpart Kim Jong-il during the summit.

The deadlock is also feared to have an adverse effect on other agreed inter-Korean projects ― a special West Sea peace zone, joint development of the Han River estuary and the construction of port facilities at Haeju on the West Sea coast of North Korea.

Despite the standoff, the two sides agreed to establish a joint military committee to deal with the maritime border issue and other measures to ease military tension. They also agreed to provide security guarantees for inter-Korean business projects, including the resumption of cross-border freight railway services, and to hold more talks in Seoul next year.

North Korea is expected to continue to raise the NLL issue at future talks. Thus, Seoul should make concerted efforts to persuade Pyongyang to accept the line as the sea border and focus on more substantial tension-reducing measures. The two Koreas cannot achieve their common goal of national reconciliation and permanent peace without confidence building in military matters.