Korean Maritime Border Dispute Heats Up
Korean Maritime Border Dispute Heats Up
Quote:
A long-festering maritime border dispute between the Koreas--North Korea has angrily ended the latest round of high-level military talks over the issue--could cause the North to drag its feet on implementing the six-nation nuclear disarmament deal, or even to test-fire more missiles in a provocative show of defiance.
The following historical background is excerpted from a VOA article:
Communist North Korea invaded capitalist South Korea in 1950. A 1953 armistice halted the fighting, but the war was never formally concluded by a peace treaty. The 248-kilometer-long no-man's-land bisecting the Korean peninsula, where this week's talks took place, is demilitarized, but emplacements and troops on either side make it one of the most heavily armed borders in the world.
That tension extends out to the two countries' sea border, which was at the heart of the dispute on Thursday. The United Nations established a maritime division between the Koreas known as the Northern Limit Line in 1953.
North Korea has rejected that border for decades as illegal, and fought deadly naval skirmishes with South Korea in waters west of the peninsula in 1999 and 2002. Experts say the area is rich in seafood and other ocean resources, fueling competition over territorial markers.
As it has done in previous military talks, Pyongyang made redrawing the Northern Limit Line its central demand this week. South Korea refused to discuss the demand, saying the talks should aim for more simple, tactical goals.
South Korea says it had hoped to build on a historic test of a cross-border railroad line in May by seeking security mechanisms for future rail crossings. Seoul also hoped to refine arrangements for defusing future naval conflicts, such as a telephone hotline between the two capitals. Pyongyang says those issues can only be addressed after the maritime border issue is resolved.
