DATE=9/3/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KOREAS / BORDER (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-253407
BYLINE=HYUN-SUNG KHANG
DATELINE=SEOUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: South Korea has pledged to defend a disputed
sea border with neighboring North Korea. The
announcement was made following an emergency National
Security Council meeting, prompted by the North's
declaration that the maritime line, is invalid. As
Hyun-Sung Khang reports from the South Korean capital,
Seoul, the United States has urged North Korea to
respect the border separating the two countries'
maritime zones.
TEXT: At the center of the maritime dispute between
North and South Korea is the so-called "Northern Limit
Line". It bisects the Yellow Sea, to the West of the
Korean peninsula, dividing the waters of the two
countries. The
reclusive North has declared the border invalid, but
Seoul has responded by saying that it will defend the
sea line.
At an emergency National Security Council meeting
Friday, South Korean cabinet ministers discussed
measures to counter the North's declaration. The
council, including the Unification Minister, the
Foreign Affairs minister and the Defense Minister,
says until a new demarcation line is agreed upon by
the two countries, Seoul will maintain the current
border. It also rejected an alternative sea line set
unilaterally by Pyongyang on Thursday.
Seoul officials say the North's declared new
borderline would expand its territory and is well
south of five small islands controlled by South Korea
in the Yellow Sea.
The United States, has also urged the North to adhere
to the existing border. A State Department spokesman
said the boundary has been an effective means of
preventing military tension between the armed forces
of the two countries for 46 years.
North Korea has threatened to use what it described as
"various means and methods" to defend its new border,
raising fears of a renewed naval clash. Two months
ago, a North Korean patrol boat was sunk and some 30
North Korean
sailors killed in a skirmish with boats from the
South.
/// OPT /// North and South Korea have remained
technically at war since the conflict of 1950-53,
which ended in an armed truce and not a peace
agreement. The naval clash in June was one of the
worst military exchanges since the end of the Korean
War.
The issue was raised at a failed meeting between the
US-led United Nations Command and North Korea at the
demilitarized border village of Panmunjom on
Wednesday. North Korea says that the dispute should
be discussed bilaterally with the United States, while
the UN command insists that it be negotiated between
the two Koreas. ///END OPT ///
Analysts suggest that Pyongyang is using the sea
dispute as a negotiating tactic ahead of a meeting
between North Korea and the United States which will
take place in Berlin, later this month. (SIGNED)
NEB/HSK/FC
03-Sep-1999 03:34 AM LOC (03-Sep-1999 0734 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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