N. Korean patrol boat violates NLL
By Kang Seung-woo
A North Korean patrol boat repeatedly crossed the tense western sea border with South Korea overnight Monday in the first violations of the year, the defense ministry said Tuesday.
The North Korean vessel’s first intrusion across the Northern Limit Line (NLL) occurred at 10:56 p.m., and it crossed the border again at 11:46 p.m.
No shots were fired and the ship finally retreated at 2:25 a.m. after the South Korean Navy repeatedly broadcast warnings, according to the ministry.
The patrol ship sailed into the South-controlled waters as far as four kilometers, the ministry added.
The NLL was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command when the 1950-53 Korean War ended, but due to the North’s rejection of its recognition, there have been bloody clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2010, with the latest claiming 46 sailors in the sinking of a South Korean warship.
The ministry spokesman said the North’s incursion was an intentional action.
“The North Korean ship’s NLL violation is seen as part of military drills or an inspection of the South Korean military,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing. “It is believed that the North Korean vessel intended to test the South Korean military.”
He also said that the North itself revoked its proposal on Jan. 16 to halt all hostile military actions by both sides.
The intrusion marks the Stalinist country’s first border violation since its patrol violated the NLL on Aug. 16. The North intruded across the border three times last year.
“We are closely looking into possibilities that the North Korean intentionally violated the NLL,” Kim said, adding that the South Korean military is prepared to counter any provocations.
In addition, the violation comes as signs of warming cross-border ties between two Koreas are looming on the peninsula.
Family reunions took place at the Mount Geumgang resort in the North from Thursday to Tuesday ― for the first time in three years ― despite an annual joint South Korean-U.S. military exercises that began on Monday.
In addition, the South’s government offered Monday to provide aid to North Korea to help contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
In order not to provoke the Kim Jong-un regime, South Korea and the United States plan to keep the annual drills low-key and not feature any U.S. advanced weapons, as was the case last year.