Naval command ordered to defend maritime demarcation line in West Sea at all costs
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.
https://www.dailynk.com/english/naval-command-ordered-to-defend-maritime-demarcation-line-in-west-sea-at-all-costs/
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