Volume 8 | Issue 49 | Number 1 | Article ID 3452 | Dec 06, 2010 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus

Factsheet: West Sea Crisis in 概況報告−−朝鮮における西 海危機

John McGlynn, Nan Kim

Factsheet: WEST SEA CRISIS IN maritime dividing line between the two , KOREA which was unilaterally established by United Nations forces at the time of armistice in the Nan Kim in 1953, and has been contested by the North ever since, hugs its western Introduction coastline.

John McGlynn Echoing the views of Siegried Hecker, who recently toured 's nuclear facilities The factsheet that follows, prepared by Nan (see "Stanford University Professor's Report on Kim in conjunction with members of the the Implications of North Korea's Uranium National Campaign to End the Korean War, Enrichment Program" at our website's What's provides an informative overview of theHot for the week of November 21,link ), and dangerous military standoff that has been others who advocate peaceful diplomacy to end unfolding on the Korean Peninsula ever since the (potentially nuclear) armed standoff on the South Korea conducted a 4-hour artillery Korean Peninsula in the short run, a prelude to exercise on November 23. The exercise was achieving a permanent peace in Northeast Asia conducted on Yeonpyeong Island, populated at in the long-run, the Campaign's factsheet the time by 1,000 South Korean soldiers and makes this statement: 1,300 civilians, about 12 kilometers from North Korea's coastline. The North -- which had "Direct negotiations, as a first step toward a demanded that the South cancel the exercise peace treaty or agreement [with the U.S. to prior to its start, and then according to finally end the Korean War], are the only viable reports repeatedly called for a halt as the South option in a heavily militarized region continued its exercise -- responded with direct characterized by recurring naval conflicts, shelling of the island. This resulted in the disputed borders and unresolved grievances." killing of two South Korean soldiers and two civilian contractors working on a military base. In this spirit, China, joined several times by (Pyongyang later expressed regret for the North Korea, has for months been calling for a civilian deaths.). See CSPAN report here. resumption of Six-Party negotiations among the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and China An important detail in the factsheet reported in as host to continue negotiations toward the Korean but apparently not the English achieving a denuclearized Korean peninsula press is that the volume of shelling conducted and creating a viable Northeast Asia regional by the South reveals that this was no minor security structure. More recently, China has exercise. Information from South Korea's asked all the parties to convene immediately to defense ministry reveals that the South "fired hold urgent discussions on how to defuse the 3,657 times, or over 900 shells per hour," into dangerous military situation prevailing since waters near the Northern Limit Line (NLL). The November 23.

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The U.S., South Korea and Japan have rejected the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) China's invitation. Instead, the three will meet and the United States conducted war- next week in Washington to coordinate policy simulation exercises, dubbed “Hoguk” [“Defend not only toward North Korea but also toward the State”], a massive endeavor involving pressuring China to chastise and use sanctions 70,000 soldiers, 600 tanks, 500 warplanes, 90 to economically punish the North. helicopters, and 50 warships. It was slated to take place over a period of nine days. Meanwhile, South Korea has announced plans to again hold live-fire military exercises, 2. South Korean artillery units located in the possibly next week, this time in 29 locations, West Sea Islands, just seven miles from the including on or near Yeonpyeong and other North Korean coast, engaged in firing exercises islands held by the South near the NLL. South on November 23, 2010, for four hours. Korea's new defense minister promises air According to the South Korean Ministry of strikes against the North if it responds by firing National Defense, the units on those islands, on the forces participating in this potentially including Yeonpyeong Island, fired 3,657 times, far more provocative exercise. This latest or over 900 shells per hour, into contested exercise would come immediately after a large- waters claimed by both Pyongyang and Seoul scale naval exercise between the U.S. and near the Northern Limit Line (NLL). Drawn South Korea in the Yellow Sea (West Sea) and unilaterally by the US Navy in 1953, the NLL is may overlap with, according to Japan's defense not internationally recognized and has never ministry, the largest ever joint military exercise been accepted by the Democratic People's between the U.S. and Japan, now underway Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea). near Okinawa (with South Korean observers present) and in a location just south of the 3. The South Korean military has stated that its Korean Peninsula. Since the events oflive-fire drills began that day at 10:15 a.m., November 23, Japan itself remains on high describing them as routine test-firing aimed not military alert. toward NorthKorea, but rather in a west- southwest direction. North Korea regarded In light of the massive military exercises these firing drills as part of the larger Hoguk already conducted and the planned exercise military exercises and issued repeated scheduled for next week close to North Korean warnings to South Korea, demanding a halt to territory and in waters long claimed by the war games and warning that it would Pyongyang, as well as the rejection of China's retaliate if South Korean troops fired live invitation to hold a diplomatic roundtable, next artillery shells into its territorial waters. week's trilateral meeting in Washington inevitably assumes something of the character 4. North Korean reports stated that at of a war council. approximately 1 p.m., the South Korean Marines began firing longer-range artilleries,

more powerful than the mortars and other weaons that had been used earlier during the firing drills. South Korea's artillery firing Factsheet: WEST SEA CRISIS IN continued until 2:30 p.m. North Korean KOREA artillery units responded by firing on a South Korean artillery base on Yeonpyeong Island. Contested Waters: Background to a Crisis The South Korean Marines responded by firing back at North Korean bases on the coast across 1. On November 22, 2010, military troops from from the island.

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5. On Yeonpyeong Island, a site with South what the North called “a human shield by Korean military bases and a fishing community placing civilians around artillery positions and of 1,300 residents, North Korean artillery killed inside military facilities." On November 29th, two South Korean marines and two civilian South Korea canceled a series of scheduled military contractors who were building new artillery drills from Yeonpyeong Island, offering barracks on a military installation. The attack no explanation for the change. The massive US- left eighteen others injured. North Korea did ROK joint war exercises did resume in the not disclose its casualties, but one South Yellow Sea (or West Sea), but they have taken Korean report indicates that one North Korean place outside the immediate zone of the soldier was killed and two others wereartillery exchange, staged approximately 125 seriously wounded. miles south of the NLL.

Naval Skirmishes Amid an Ongoing State of War Compiled by Nan Kim, Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea (asck.org) •The Korean War has never formally ended. Only a temporary armistice suspended the military hostilities in 1953, but peace treaty talks in Geneva broke down in 1954. Millions of Koreans remain separated from their family members due to the continued state of war and division in Korea.

•Without a permanent peace treaty, the two Koreas have not agreed upon a mutual recognition of maritime borders, and they lack the formal diplomatic channels that could help prevent the 6. President Obama dispatched the nuclear- escalation of border clashes both powered aircraft carrier, the USSGeorge on land and at sea, particularly in Washington (carrying 75 warplanes and a crew the contested waters off Korea's of over 6000) and other warships to conduct west coast. According to Leon additional joint war exercises with the South Sigal, former editorial board Korean military beginning November 28th. member of the New York Times, "Those waters have been troubled 7. Amid the recent hostilities, modest ever since...1953, when the US mitigating gestures have emerged, though Navy unilaterally imposed a compromised by a confrontational war footing ceasefire line at sea north of the in the region. North Korea issued a statement Military Demarcation Line (MDL) calling the civilian deaths “very regrettable,” on land. North Korea has long but it also criticized South Korea for creating objected to this Northern Limit

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Line (NLL), which is not North Korea agreed to leave the recognized internationally. It NLL intact. wants the MDL line extended out • Yet, within months, President- to sea" (Arms Control Today, Nov elect Lee Myung-bak rescinded the 2010). October 4 Declaration and later abrogated the inter-Korean accord •Naval firefights over the NLL from the historic 2000 summit, have intensified in recent years. In which had provided a common June 1999, one such skirmish led approach for both North Korea and to the sinking of a North Korean South Korea to work toward vessel, killing "at least 17 and as reconciliation and eventual many as 80 North Korean sailors." reunification. [Reuters, Jan 26, 2010] In June 2002, "A clash between South and •Relations deteriorated further in North Korean naval vessels in the 2009 when North Korea protested Yellow Sea [sank] one South South Korea's decision to fully Korean frigate and [killed] six participate in a US-led naval South Korean sailors and an interdiction initiative, which North estimated 13 North Koreans." Korea regarded as a violation of its (Reuters, Jan 26, 2010) In 2009, national sovereignty. In response, both sides threatened each other North Korea renounced all with a third West Sea skirmish. diplomatic and military agreements with South Korea. •Prior South Korean administrations made progress in •In November 2009, "a North resolving the mutual claims over Korean patrol boat crossed the contested waters, but those NLL into the contested waters- diplomatic efforts were abandoned precisely what the 2007 summit by the current Lee administration, had sought to forestall-and a South which has taken a hostile stance Korean vessel fired warning shots toward North Korea. at it. The North returned fire and •In October 2007, an inter-Korean the South opened up, severely summit meeting between Roh Moo- damaging the North Korean vessel Hyun, the previous South Korean and causing an unknown number president (2003-2008), and Kim of casualties." [Sigal, Arms Control Jong Il yielded a declaration that Today, Nov 2010] committed both sides to concrete measures toward improving inter- •In March 2010, the Cheonan, a Korean relations. Both pledged to 1,200-ton South Korean navy negotiate a joint fishing area and corvette, was severed in half and agreed to a proposal to create a sank in the waters off "peace and cooperation zone" in Baengnyeong Island, the northern- the West Sea, which was aimed at most of the West Sea Islands in the transforming the heavily contested waters near the NLL. militarized waters into a maritime Forty-six South Korean sailors died region for economic cooperation. in the sinking. Significantly, in that declaration •The Joint Civil-Military

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Investigation Group (JIG), a Cheonan victims died of drowning, multinational commission led by not from the injuries they South Korea, concluded after sustained. As Lee and Suh explain, nearly two months of investigation "the ship's and crew's condition is that a North Korean torpedo sank not consistent with the damage the Cheonan. This interpretation expected of an outside explosion" has been accepted, with few caused by a torpedo, which would exceptions, as incontrovertible fact have produced a tremendous shock by most mainstream media outlets. wave (Asia-Pacific Journal, July12, •However, the plausibility of the 2010). JIG's conclusions has been challenged by rigorous scientific •In an article published in July that and empirical analyses by scholars assessed the evidence regarding such as physicist Seunghun Lee the Cheonan sinking, historian (University of Virginia) and Mark E. Caprio (Rikkyo University, political scientist Jae-Jung Suh Tokyo) wrote: "Confrontational (Johns Hopkins University) as well conditions have existed along the as by independent investigations Korean peninsula since its division carried out by the South Korean at the end of World War II in 1945. news organization Hankyoreh and The exceptionally aggressive civic groups such People's attitude taken by the present ROK Solidarity for Participatory regime increases the potential for Democracy. They have uncovered more tragic incidents-planned or tampered evidence and a long list accidental-between the two of factual inconsistencies. Koreas, which may also pull in •For a detailed synthesis of the allies on both sides. The US-ROK multiple independent refusal to participate in investigations into the Cheonan negotiations until Pyongyang sinking, see the Hani.tv apologizes for an incident it insists documentary, Beneath" the it did not commit, and their Surface." decision to pressure the DPRK by •Perhaps the most compelling holding massive new joint war evidence that casts doubt upon the exercises and by inflicting still JIG's findings is the fact that, more economic sanctions, despite the tragic loss of 49 lives, demonstrates macho but also nearly all of the 58 surviving crew greatly increases the possibility of members escaped serious injury, more Cheonan-like incidents, and and the ship's internal instruments in the gravest scenario a second remained intact. In contrast, Korean War." (Asia-Pacific Journal, scientists have modeled that a July 26, 2010) torpedo explosion would have sent crew members "flying like bullets" into the surrounding equipment, fracturing bones and likely A New ? resulting in fatalities from the explosion's concussive force. Yet, Some analysts have perceived the emergence autopsies revealed that all of the of a “new Cold War” in Northeast Asia.

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President Obama has identified South Korea as such war-simulation maneuvers “a cornerstone of US security in the Pacific inevitably increase the risk of region,” a characterization that he has also an uncontrollable and used to describe Japan. Meanwhile, South unacceptable escalation that Korea, Japan, and the US have refused to would threaten millions of lives. return to negotiations with North Korea, as the The US must return to North Korean leadership has recently negotiations to reach a peace strengthened ties with counterparts in China. agreement that would finally end the Korean War. Since 1945, the US has maintained a continuous military presence in South Korea, South Korea must return to a with an estimated 28,500 US troops currently peace process with North Korea stationed in South Korea. Sixty-five years later, in order to reduce the the US still retains wartime operational control heightened volatility on the over South Korean forces, and the US and Korean peninsula that has South Korean militaries routinely conduct joint endangered the entire region. war-simulation exercises near the DMZ and within contested waters off the Korean Direct negotiations, as a first peninsula. These combined drills are an overt step toward a peace treaty or show of force, displaying the sophistication of agreement, are the only viable US and South Korean military technology. option in a heavily militarized North Korea condemns the military exercises region characterized by as provocative because it regards these recurring naval conflicts, maneuvers as a possible smokescreen for a real disputed borders and attack. unresolved grievances.

The stakes for peace in Korea The Way Forward are enormous, and the time for a genuine peace process is now. These recurring tragic incidents off Korea's west coast have resulted from the Voices of Reason unending state of war and “We demonize [Kim Jong Il] as a “nut case,” but continued national division on I have talked to Russians, Chinese, South the Korean peninsula. Koreans and Americans who have met with him They underscore the frailty of at length, and all say he is extremely the Armistice Agreement of intelligent. What Kim wants is sustained, 1953 and confirm the urgent serious talks with the US, leading to a need to replace that temporary comprehensive peace treaty….Our problem is truce with a permanent peace that every time we elect a new president, we treaty. seem to feel that we have to start from scratch As tensions continue to mount, with North Korea.” – Donald P. Gregg, US it is critical that we urge ambassador to South Korea (1989–1993) and President , 2009 National Security Advisor to Vice-President Nobel Peace Laureate, to stop George H.W. Bush the US-ROK joint military exercises and to recognize that "... One item should be at the top of the agenda,

6 8 | 49 | 1 APJ | JF however, in order to remove all unnecessary Recommended citation: Nan Kim and John obstacles to progress, that is the establishment McGlynn, "Factsheet: West Sea Crisis in of a peace treaty to replace the truce that has Korea," The Asia-Pacific Journal, 49-1-10, been in place since 1953.One of the things that December 6, 2010. have bedeviled all talks until now is the unresolved status of the Korean War. A peace treaty would provide a baseline forThis article is part of a series relationships, eliminating the question of the commemorating the sixtieth other’s legitimacy and its right to exist.” – anniversary of the Korean War. James Laney, US Ambassador to South Korea Other articles on the sixtieth anniversary of (1993-1997) and President Emeritus of Emory the US-Korean War outbreak are: University • Mark Caprio, Neglected Questions on the “Forgotten War”: South Korea and the “Pyongyang has sent a consistent message that United States on the Eve of the Korean during direct talks with the United States, it is War. ready to conclude an agreement to end its • Steven Lee, The United States, the United nuclear programs, put them all under IAEA Nations, and the Second Occupation of inspection and conclude a permanent peace Korea, 1950-1951. treaty to replace the ‘temporary’ cease-fire of • Heonik Kwon, Korean War Traumas. th • Han Kyung-koo, Legacies of War: The 1953.” –Jimmy Carter, 39 President of the Korean War – 60 Years On. United States

Additional articles on the US-Korean War include: • Mel Gurtov, From Korea to Vietnam: The Origins and Mindset of Postwar U.S. For more information and to join the National Interventionism. Campaign to End the Korean War:• Kim Dong-choon, The Truth and www.endthekoreanwar.org Reconciliation Commission of Korea: Uncovering the Hidden Korean War • Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Remembering the Unfinished Conflict: Museums and the This factsheet was prepared by Nan Kim in Contested Memory of the Korean War. conjunction with members of the National • Sheila Miyoshi Jager, Cycles of History: Campaign to End the Korean War. Nan Kim is China, North Korea, and the End of the assistant professor of history at the University Korean War. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and a specialist on • Tim Beal, Korean Brinkmanship, American Provocation, and the Road to modern Korean war memory. War: The Manufacturing of a Crisis. John McGlynn is a Tokyo-based independent • Wada Haruki, From the Firing at Yeonpyeong Island to a Comprehensive foreign policy and financial analyst and an Asia- Solution to the Problems of Division and Pacific Journal associate. He wrote this War in Korea. introduction for the Asia-Pacific Journal.

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