NK`s Patrol Boat Crossed over NLL in West Sea again

The Headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs announced yesterday that a North Korean patrol ship (150 ton ) intruded into the South, crossing over the Northern Limit Line at 12 km West of Yeonpyong Island around 12:15 p.m.. It returned to the North at around 12:46 p.m. after moving about 4.8 km in to the South for 30 minutes.

North patrol boats violated the NLL 12 times last year and this incident marked the first violation of this year.

The Joint Chiefs Headquarters reported that the South Korean Navy immediately mobilized 2 high-speed ships to respond but the NK patrol ship did not show any particular military response. The North patrol ship returned to the North after inspecting a Chinese fish-product transportation ship that was navigating nearby.

7 violations out of 12 violations of NLL last year turned out to be for controlling and inspecting Chinese fishing ships in the area.

Dong-Ki Sung esprit@donga.com