War talk on the Korean Peninsula: Naval command ordered to defend maritime demarcation line in West Sea at all costs

Naval command ordered to defend maritime demarcation line in West Sea at all costs

Image: Yonhap News Agency

An urgent order was handed down to the Korean People’s Navy’s Naval Command in the early morning of November 3 to defend the maritime demarcation line in the West Sea at all costs, North Korean sources have reported. The order includes a command for North Korean ships to strongly attack all “enemy” ships that cross the demarcation line.

This suggests that the buffer sea zone designated by the two Koreas that came into effect on November 1 that was aimed at preventing armed clashes has now become obsolete.

The Pyongyang Joint Declaration included an agreement to designate a pilot joint fishing zone and “peaceful waters” in and around the Northern Limit Line (NLL). The NLL was created after the end of the Korean War in 1953 by the United Nations Command (UNC). North Korea never formally acknowledged the line and has long argued that the waters up to the South Korean patrol demarcation line in the West Sea falls within their territory.

“An urgent order was handed down to the Naval Command in the morning of November 3 telling them to defend the West Sea maritime demarcation at all costs. They were also told that any maritime invasion by the enemy should be immediately and strongly repulsed,” said a source in Pyongyang on November 12.

“The order also stated that [the navy] should be in a constant state of combat readiness and carefully watch the actions of the enemy, and should respond strongly [to any attack] […] Our Party and military again commands our navy to unyieldingly repulse any enemy [ships] that try to test the West Coast maritime demarcation line and our Republic’s self-defense forces.”

The tone of the order stands in stark contrast to President Moon Jae In’s statement last month, via Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui Kyeom, that the inter-Korean agreement to turn the area near the NLL into a peace zone demonstrates North Korea’s recognition of the NLL and “marks a great transition in that we may now truly turn the area near the NLL, which has been an area of conflicts, into an area of peace.”

North Korea, moreover, has reportedly supplied military forces in the West Sea area with various resources to defend its West Sea maritime perimeter.

“The navy was ordered to establish detailed plans on how to supply and operate combat ships in the area in the event of a maritime attack by North Korea’s enemies. The document stated that the navy would be given priority for fuel needed by ships operating in the West Sea on patrol operations and various combat supplies,” a separate source in Pyongyang reported.

“The document further ordered the Naval Command to place experienced and highly qualified leaders into the roles of ship captains and unit leaders. It also ordered the cadres departments in Naval Command and Kim Jong Suk Naval University to cooperate with Naval Command to ensure this happens.”

He added that the North Korean authorities appear to have handed down the order because they believe that the military’s discipline may be faltering due to the ongoing peaceful atmosphere between the two Koreas.

“All employees of the Naval Command have been ordered not to pay any attention to the atmosphere of peace prevailing between the two Koreas,” he said.

The negotiations between the two Koreas surrounding exchanges and cooperation are still continuing, which makes it unlikely that any attack across the NLL will take place, even in the event of an unintended incident.

Following the designation of the buffer maritime zone by the two Koreas in the West Sea near the NLL, the Ministry of Defense in South Korea has come under fire because the size of the buffer zone it first announced differed from the eventual one.

The Ministry of Defense’s press release on November 19 stated that the length of the buffer zone was 80 kilometers (40 km for South Korea and 40 km for North Korea), but some press outlets raised an issue with these numbers as the ministry revised the figures to 85 km for South Korea and 50 km for North Korea. The ministry later acknowledged that the cause of the confusion was a “mistake by a working-level employee.”

The fact that South Korea’s buffer zone is wider than North Korea’s has also led to controversy suggesting that the Moon government is abandoning the NLL.

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